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THE 



LUSIAD 



OP 



LUIS DE CAMOENS, 



CLOSELY TRANSLATED. 



WITH A PORTRAIT OF THE POET, 

A COMPENDIUM OF HIS LIFE, 

AN INDEX TO THE PRINCIPAL PASSAGES OP HIS POEM, 

A VIEW OF THE " FOUNTAIN OF TEARS,' 

AND MARGINAL AND ANNEXED NOTES, 

ORIGINAL AND SELECT. 



BY 

Lt.-COLl. SIE T. LIVINGSTON MITCHELL, Kt. D.C.L. 




LONDON : 

T. k W. BOONE, NEW BOND STREET. 

1854. 






TO THE RIGHT HONOURABLE 

THOMAS EARL OF DUNDONALD, G.C.B. 

YICE ADiriEAL OE THE BLUE, 

GRAND CROSS OF THE IMPERIAL BRAZILIAN ORDER OF THE CRUZERO; 

KNIGHT OF THE ROYAL ORDER OF THE SAVIOUR OF GRIiECE; 

AND OF THE ORDER OF MERIT OF CHILI, 

&C. &C. &C. 

IS DEDICATED, 

WITH MUCH EESPECT, 
BY HIS LOEDSHIP'S OBLIGED HUMBLE SEEVAIS'T, 

T LIVINGSTON MITCHELL. 



PREFACE. 



This translation is submitted to tlie public, as conveying- 
the Poet's meaning in tlie order of the versification, an 
undertaking of more difficulty in English, the terminations 
alone of verbs sufficing for good rhyme in Portuguese. 

In quantity the original varies as to the number of 
syllables — and in attempting an imitation in a different 
language — the employment of nearly as many cannot, he 
trusts, be objected to. Prom ten to twelve or even 
fourteen syllables occur in one line of the original, and 
thus, although ten syllables is the usual quantity in 
Ottava Rima when imitated in English — more has been 
required in translating here the lines of the Lusiad. 
By adopting a similar quantity, a tone of antiquity 
seems to be the result, and not unsuited, as the trans- 
lator imagines, to the age of the original poem, since this 
is not at all affected, but the result of close imitation. 
It will still be found that there are fewer syllables in 
this translation than there are in the original. In assimi- 
lating the English stanzas to the sound as weU as to the 
sense of the Portuguese; as, for instance in the cxix 
stanza of Canto III, the necessity for as many syllables 
must be obvious. 

The translator conceives that in the present age the 
original poem possesses more interest when closely trans- 
lated, than if it were, as has been said of other transla- 
tions, " rather a recomposition than a translation," al- 



Yl PEEPACE. 

thougli it must be admitted that Mickle's translation 
contains much, poetry of very great original merit. 

The closing couplet of the stanza frequently condenses 
the pith of the six lines preceding it ; but the point of 
many proverbial reflections is lost altogether or so diluted, 
in the rhyme of Mickle, that many beautiful passages of the 
original are nowhere to be found therein, v^hile as much 
as "three hundred lines are introduced in Canto IX, 
which have not any corresponding passage in the Portu- 
guese." Of such liberties the Portuguese justly complain, 
and appeal to the translations of Homer and Virgil, in 
the polished languages of Europe, in support of their 
allegation, that the spirit of the original should be pre- 
served entire, without compression or extension.* 

Many expressions of Shaksperian vigour in the original 
have hitherto been lost in English ; such, for instance, as 
the phrase, " silent poesy," applied to painting (Stanza 76, 
canto YIII., &c. &c.) "When the sense of every line is 
translated, less is likely to be lost. 

An epic poem written three centuries ago, the first in 
any modern language, seems now interesting as charac- 
teristic of the age to which it belongs — exhibiting the 
extent of geographical knowledge in the sixteenth cen-: 
tury;-^the tone of chivalrous ardour with which that 
knowledge first took gigantic strides to encompass all 
that man possesses of earth and sea ; that enthusiasm 
which set limits to the spread of Mahometanism in the 
West — and interfered with its progress in the East, by 
leading Christianity and commerce in that direction. 

The historical comparisons and classical allusions, by 
which the poet elucidates events, and dignifies his 
reflections, seem not the least important features in the 
poem. His mythological and allegorical personages may 
perhaps be allowed to belong to the scenery machinery 
dresses and decorations, while — 

* Aquino ao Leitoi', Obras de Camoens, 12ino 1782. Tomo I. i'.-is 
quoted by Mr. Adamson). 



PEEFACE. m 

" The poet's eye in a fine pbrenzy rolling 
Glances from heaven to earth, from earth to heaven :'' 

Never overstepping, withal, the modesty of nature in 
describing natural phenomena— but, on the contrary, im- 
parting to the most truthful descriptions of these, the 
grand and sublime conceptions of poetic and pictorial 
genius ; while he never fails to do as much justice to 
what is ideal immortal and invisible. 

The effect of contrast is also brought out with the skill 
of a great painter. The tale of a tournament in England, 
for instance, is told to beguile the dull tedium of a night- 
watch in an unknown sea, — a violent storm, and the loud 
shouts of the boatswain suddenly interrupt the narrative, 
and the vessels are in the greatest danger— when Venus 
and Nymphs come to the assistance of the Lusians, and 
by their influence over Boreas, and the " fierce south," 
allay the tempest. The bright planet rises in the east, 
on the dawning of a serene morning, when the Indian 
mountains are disclosed at length on the distant horizon. 

The skill of this arrangement is as remarkable as its 
beauty — and is alluded to here chiefly because it has not 
been noticed hitherto by critics. The arrangement is as 
artistical as poetical — shewing the intimate connexion 
there is between composition in poetry and painting. 

The author of this translation is unwilling to trespass 
further on the regions of criticism, especially where so 
much has been already said, but he cannot conclude 
without noticing the superiority of the subject of the 
Lusiad for an Epic poem, as compared with either the 
destruction of a city ; a navigation in the Mediterranean ; 
a Garden of Eden ; or a descent into hell. Here we 
have celebrated in heroic verse, the first progress to trace 
out, and ascertain the full extent of " man's only dwelling 
place,"* with brilliant descriptions of natural phenomena, 
* Stanza xci. Canto X, 



YUl PEEFACE. 

gracefully combined with not only all that we believe, but 
with all that has been created by man's own imagination. 

Patriotism, heroism, and valour, in the rulers ; loyalty, 
zeal, and devotion in the people, are inculcated throughout 
the Poem, and their good effects exemplified in the 
glorious exploits of the Portuguese princes and people — 
our ancient allies, who preceded us in the greatest path 
of commerce ; and who stood by our side, our trusty and 
faithful friends ; when, in the words of Canning, the 
" arm of Glreat Britain was the lever, and Portugal the 
fulcrum to wrench from its basis " the power that had 
subdued the rest of Europe. 

The translator is bound to add that besides consulting 
some Portuguese authorities, he has drawn largely on the 
erudite notes of Mr. Mickle, — and that he has also 
obtained much valuable information relative to the poet's 
history from the Memoirs by John Adamson, Esq., E.S.A, 
of whose courtesy and attention he is also most sensible. 

As some apology for the rough chisseling of the work, 
if he may use such an expression, he must state also 
under what circumstances the most of it came into shape. 
These were chiefly, under water, in a small clipper, during 
a voyage round Cape Horn. 

London, 2tn Dec, 1853. 



COMPENDIUM 



LIFE OF LUIS DE CAMDEN'S. 



Some information as to the life of Camoens seems ne- 
cessary even as an introduction to his poem of the 
Lusiad. Passages, in his history or condition, appear 
in various parts of the poem, and towards the conclusions 
of some cantos, mingle gracefully with the chivalrous 
sentiments inculcated therein. In this respect resembling 
a noble Poet of later times — this ancient Poet has a local 
habitation in his works. However different the tendency 
of the works of these poets may be, they, in this point of 
view at least, bear some resemblance. 

It is certain that the sunny land of Portugal gave Ca- 
moens to the world, and that his forefathers could be 
traced back to the year 1370, when Don Henry II. reigned 
in Castillo. Yasco Pirez de Camoens passed from Gal- 
licia over to the kingdom of Portugal in the reign of Don 
Ferdinand, King of Portugal, who gave him extensive 
lands and tenements in consideration of those he had left 
behind in GaUicia, the two kingdoms being then at war. 
Yasco Pirez de Camoens afterwards lost greater part of 
these lands from his adherence to the faction of the 
Queen Dona Leonora, against the King Don John I. 
He married a daughter of G-on9alo Tenreiro, Capitan 
Mor of the armadas of Portugal. From this marriage 

a 2 



X compe:s"dium of the 

sprung GronQalo, John, and Constance. From the second 
son the Poet is descended — namely, John Vaz de Ca- 
moens — who, by his military merits in the service of the 
King Don Alphonso Y, acquired the title (an honour 
and distinction in those times) of his vassal. He built 
a large house in Coimbra, and in the cloisters of the ca- 
thedral of the same city a sumptuous monument still 
appears to his memory. Simon Yaz de Camoens was 
grandson of John Yas, and having escaped from ship- 
wreck on the coast of Goa in India, died in that city. He 
had married Dona Anna de Sa, a lady of noble birth, 
native of Santarem, who gave birth to Luis de Camoens — 
whose lineage terminated with himself, as he never was 
married. This family, however, " like an expiring lamp 
previous to its final extinction, emitting a brighter and 
more dazzling gleam."* 

Camoens was born in Lisbon, although both Coimbra 
and Santarem have since claimed the honour of his birth 
— a dispute like that of the seven cities of Greece — arising 
out of the very obsciu'ity in which the life of the Poet was 
passed — who grew into immortality after death. 

The year of his birth has also been a subject of con- 
troversy. According to the edition of Ignacio Garcez Fer- 
reira, this was in 1517 ; and in this, Manoel de Faria 
concurred before he saw in a list of persons who passed to 
India in 1550, an entry of Camoens' name as being 
then twenty-five years of age, which would have made the 
year of his birth 1524. But, whoever considers the 
various events of his life before the year 1550, will find 
the seven years in which the difference of opinion consists 
requisite, and will judge which date is most irrefragable. 

After his earlier education at Lisbon, he proceeded, at 
the age of twelve (it is said) to continue his studies at 

* Reti-atos e Elog-ics dos Varoes e Donas -For tug-. Yid. de Cam. 



LIFE OF CAMOEXS. XI 

the University of Coimbra, tlien newly founded by D. 
John III., or rather transferred to that city from Lisbon. 
Of the progress Camoens made in his studies at that seat 
of learning, we may judge by his works, and by the su- 
periority with which he shone ever after, and which he 
always preserved amongst his many contemporaries. 

Even at that early age Luis de Camoens shewed poetic 
talent, and in his earliest attempts the genius was apparent 
with which he was gifted, and his application to good 
authors and models. 

Poetry, although esteemed in the schools, was much more 
appreciated during that age of chivalry in courts. It was 
customary for the young nobility to pass some time at the 
Court of Lisbon before entering upon the military pro- 
fession, and Camoens, by his acquirements in that branch 
of literature, not less than by his youth, personal appear- 
ance and manners, enjoyed extensive patronage and notice, 
especially from the ladies. A poetic temperament so 
situated was sure to be excited, and genius inspired to 
the noblest efforts, so that it is thought possible by a late 
wi'iter of his memoirs,* "that the plan and subject of his 
intended poem, and on which his literary character chiefly 
depends, occupied some part of his attention " even 
then. 

But with a heart alive to the softer impressions of our 
nature, he could not well remain insensible to all the 
dames by whom he was surrounded. Too much idleness 
and the mere pursuit of pleasure soon had the eifect of 
convincing him in early youth of their danger. One 
lady, " Dama de Palacio," to whom he breathed the sighs 
of a most attached and ardent lover, engaged now his 
undivided attention. In many of his sonnets allusion is 



* Memoii-s of the Life and Writiiog-s of Luis de Camoens, hy John 
Adaiiisuu, F S.A. 



Xll COMPENDIUM OE THE 

made to this lady. — " That the attachment was reciprocal 
there is no reason to doubt, as also that the attentions 
paid by Camoens to the lady were a source of uneasiness 
to her parents ; an indiscretion therefore, which might 
have been excused, was represented in the most serious 
light, and they urged against it the force of those laws, 
which, at that time, were very severe upon any one who 
encouraged amours within the palace. For this reason, 
the only one of which we have any certain account, he 
was exiled from the Court to the E-ibatejo."* By the term 
Eibatejo, is implied, the country on the banks of the Tagus 
above Lisbon : Santarem appears to have been the place for 
which Camoens departed from Lisbon, not only from ex- 
pressions in his sonnets, but because the family of his 
mother had resided there. The Sonnets, and an Elegy in 
particular, written there, breathe the pathetic sentiments 
with which he regarded the waters flowing towards Lis- 
bon, where the tender cause of his banishment dwelt. — 
His misfortune, so similar to that which befel the poet 
Ovid, reminding him of the exiled Eoman. 

At length Camoens resolved to try his fortune in the 
wars, but returning to Lisbon, and having, it is said by 
some, been discovered renewing his former indiscretion, 
he was again banished, or at least went, to Ceuta. 
There he changed the life of a poet and lover for that of 
a soldier. At the time of his departure from Lisbon he 
had formed an intimacy with Don Antonio de ISToronha, 
who was also going to join the Portuguese forces in 
Africa. He was a personage of high attainments, and a 
great admirer of the genius of Camoens ; and the result 
of their meeting was a strict and firm friendship, which 
was only dissolved by the death of Noronha. It is re- 
ported that there was another reason for this friendship 

* Don Jose Maria de Sonza, abridg-ed. 



LIEE OP CAMOEIS'S. Xlll 

besides their going on the same military service ; the 
Conde de Liuhares, father of Noronha, having discovered 
an attachment of which he did not approve, between his 
son and Dona Margarita de Silva, a lady of great beanty, 
removed him to Ceuta. This circumstance rendered si- 
milar the fates of D. Antonio and Camoens, who refers to 
this interference in an Eclogue which he composed on the 
death of his friend.* 

His voyage across the Straits of Gibraltar to Ceuta, 
and the loss of his eye in a naval engagement, are re- 
ferred to in his tenth Sonnet, stanza ix. 

It is not ascertained how long Camoens served in 
Africa, but returning at length to Lisbon, having added 
military renown to his literary fame, it may be imagined 
that his mind, naturally proud, could ill brook neglect. 
He put in on his arrival, conscious of the propriety of 
his pretensions, a demand of remuneration for his ser- 
vices ; and exhibited his face disfigured by the loss of an 
eye, in support of his claim. "What must have been his 
feelings, when no one was found at Court to take any 
interest in his behalf! 

But he met at this period with another severe mortifi- 
cation, in the death of D. Catherina Atayde, the lady for 
whose sake he had been banished. This event took place 
while she was yet in waiting upon the Queen of Joao III. 
and the following beautiful sonnet, bewailing the hapless 
event, was composed to her memory : 

SONETO. 

Alma minha g-entil ! que te partiste 

Tao cedo desta vida descontente ; 

Repousa la no ceo eternamente, 
E viva eu ca na terra sempre triste. 

* Memoirs of Luis de Camoens, as above, p. 87, Vol. I. 



XIV COMPEKDIXJM OF THE 

(Se la no assento EtLereo, onde subiste, 

Memoria desta vida se consente, 

Na5 te esqtie9as de aquelle amor ardeiite, 
Que ja nos olhos meus tao puro viste. 

E se vires que pode merecer-te 
Alguma cousa a doi', que me ficou 
Da mag'oa, sem remedio de perder-te ; 

Rog-a a Deos que teus annos encurtou, 
Que tao cedo de ca me leve a vev-te, 
Quao cedo de meus olhos te levou. 

It has been observed by Mr, Southey " that to most 
imaginations, Camoens will never appear so interesting, 
as when he is bewailing his first love. It is in these mo- 
ments that he is most truly a poet." 

This sonnet is not the only poem written by Camoens 
on the lamented death of Dona Caterina, in which she is 
mentioned several times under the anagram of JSTatercia. 

Much discouraged, by the neglect he met with at Lis- 
bon, and of which he loudly complained, he determined 
on proceeding to India, and embarked with Fernando 
Alvarez Cabral, who as Commodore of four vessels sailed 
for India in March 1553, The feelings with which Ca- 
moens embarked may be imagined in leaving his country 
for which he had shed his blood, and for which, as his 
writings testify, he bore the strongest attachment, to go 
to that country, which he called the grave of every poor 
honest man ; — 

Aquella desejada e loBg-a teri'a 

De todo pobre honrado sepultura. 

The Amor patri(S never was more truly or tenderly 
expressed than it is by Camoens, in the third Stanza of 
Canto V. of the Lusiad, when Vasco de Grama and his 
adventurous armada lose sight of their native land. 

He arrived at G-oa in September, and was not there 



LIFE OF CAMOEKS. XV 

long, for in November we find that he sailed with the 
Viceroy in a powerful armada, which went to protect the 
Kings of Cochim and Porca, against him of Chembe, 
who had taken possession of some islands. Of this expe- 
dition, and its successes, some account is given in his first 
Elegy, and in which is also described his passage to 
India. 

Eeturning to Goa, about the beginning of the year 
1555, he received the news of the death of D. Antonio de 
Noronha, who fell in an engagement with the Moors of 
Tetuan. His early friend, with whom he commenced the 
profession of arms, was lamented by Camoens in various 
sonnets, and it was about this time that he wrote home 
the first of two letters usually printed at the end of his 
works. It was sent to a friend in Portugal, now un- 
known. He touches on the evil practices in India, and of 
the country he writes, that it is "the mother of great 
villains, and the step-mother of honourable men." - - - 

In February 1555, the new Viceroy, D. Pedro Masca- 
renhas, sent an expedition to the Straits of Mecca, under 
Manoel de Vasconcellos, and having wintered at Ormuz, 
it returned to Goa in October of the same year. This 
expedition the poet accompanied as a volunteer, suffering 
great privations, and in some of his minor poems, written 
during his long residence near Mount Pelix, overhanging 
the strait, he laments the loss of years, " where neither , 
the clear river flows, the fountain boils, nor the cheerful^ 
rustling of the green branch is heard." 

When he arrived at Goa, Prancisco Barreto, acted as 
Governor, after the death of Mascarenhas, and Camoens 
having written certain verses, entitled '■'Disparates na 
India.''* — " Vagaries in India," — and a Satirical composi- 
tion in prose and verse, in which certain persons of influ- 
ence with the new Governor were so conspicuously 
inarked as to leave no doubt in their minds for whom the 



XVI COMPENDIUM Or THE 

censure was intended, they appealed to Barreto, who^ 
seizing the person of the poet, banished him to China, 

" At this time the glory of the Portuguese in the East was 
on the decline. The public service was sacrificed to private 
interest, and the Portuguese settlements in the East were 
proceeding to decay with a rapidity, which the efforts of two 
or three virtuous and honourable governors, who occasion- 
ally appeared and exerted themselves to revive the feelings 
of olden times, could not arrest."* Men of dull abilities 
are more conscious of their embarrassment and errors 
than is commonly believed. When men of this kind are 
in power, they affect great solemnity ; and every expres- 
sion of the most distant tendency to lessen their dignity, 
is held as the greatest of crimes. Conscious also how the 
man of genius can hurt their interest, they bear an in- 
stinctive antipathy against him, are uneasy even in his 
company, and on the slightest pretence are happy to 
drive him from them. Camoens was thus situated at 
Groa ; and never was there a fairer field for satire than the 
rulers of India at this time afforded. Tet whatever 
esteem the prudence of Camoens may lose in our idea, 
the nobleness of his disposition will doubly gain. And 
so conscious was he of his real integrity and innocence, 
that in one of his sonnets he wished no other revenge on 
Barreto, than that the cruelty of his exile should ever be 
remembered. 

The accomplishments and manners of Camoens soon 
found him friends, though under the disgrace of banish- 
ment. He was appointed Commissary of the defunct in 
the island of Macao, a Portuguese settlement in the bay 
of Canton. He now bestowed much of his time upon the 
Lusiad, a work which probably alleviated his misfortunes, 
and supported his noble spirit under his unmerited afflic- 
tions, and had been his occupation during great part of 
* Adamson, 



LIFE or CAArOEIs^S. XVll 

his eventful life. Here also, after five years, lie acquired 
a fortune, though small, yet equal to his wishes. Don 
Constantine de Braganza was now Viceroy of India, and 
Camoens, desirous to return to Groa, resigned his charge. 
In a ship, freighted by himself, he set sail, but was ship- 
wrecked in the gulf, near the mouth of the river Mehon, 
on the coast of China. All he had acquired was lost m\ 
the waves ; his poems, which he held in one hand, while 
he swam with the other, were aU he found himself pos- 
sessed of, when he stood friendless on the unknown shore. 
But the natives gave him a most humane reception ; this 
he has immortalized in the prophetic song, in the tenth 
Lusiad, stanza 128, and in the seventh, he tells us, that 
here he lost his wealth which satisfied his wishes. 

At this place he composed (as is presumed) his sonnets, 
so celebrated by Lope de Yega,* commencing — - 

" Sobre los rios, que vao 
- De Babilonia, me achei,"' — 

in which, paraphrasing the 130th Psalm — Super flumina 
Bahylonis, he learnedly alludes, amongst the calamities 
suffered by the Hebrews in their captivity, to those which 
he was then actually sufiering himself in his exile. 

Camoens remained five years at Macao, during which 
it is supposed he was employed also in Tidore, and 
Temate ; these islands being particularized in the tenth 
Canto of the Lusiad, with which work he made great 
progress during that time. 

When he arrived at Groa in the year 1561, Don Con- 
stantine de Braganza, the Viceroy, whose characteristic 
was politeness, admitted him into intimate friendship, and 
Camoens was happy until Count Bedondo assumed the 
government. Those who had formerly procured the 
banishment of the satirist, were silent whilst Constantine 
was in power. But now they exerted all their arts 
* Edic. de Madrid in the Prol. 



XVm COMPENDIUM OF THE 

against him. Eedondo, when he entered on office, pre- 
tended to be the friend of Camoens ; yet, with all that 
unfeeling indifference, too characteristic of official for- 
malities, he suffered the innocent man to be thrown into 
prison. Camoens, in a public trial, fully refuted every 
accusation of his conduct, while Commissary at Maca5, 
and his enemies were loaded with ignominy and reproach. 
But Camoens had some creditors ; and these detained him 
in prison a considerable time, till the gentlemen of Goa 
began to be ashamed, that a man of such singular merit 
should experience such treatment among them. He was 
set at liberty ; and again he assumed the profession 
of arms, and received the allowance of a gentleman 
volunteer, a character at this time common in Portuguese 
India. Soon after, Pedro Barreto, appointed Grovernor 
of the fort at Sofala, by high promises allured the poet 
to attend him thither. 

The Grovernor of a distant fort, in a barbarous country, 
shares in some measure the fate of an exile. Yet 
though the only motive of Barreto was, in this unpleasant 
situation, to retain the conversation of Camoens at his 
table, it was his least care to render the life of his guest 
agreeable. Chagrined with his treatment, and a con- 
siderable time having elapsed in a vain dependence on 
Barreto, Camoens resolved to return to his native country. 
A ship, on the homeward voyage, at this time touched at 
Sofala, and several gentlemen, who were on board, were 
desirous that Camoens should accompany them. But 
this the Grovernor ungenerously endeavoured to prevent, 
and charged him with a debt for board. Anthony de 
Cabral, however, and Hector de Sylveyra paid the demand, 
and Camoens, says Paria, and the honour of Barreto 
were sold together. 

After an absence of sixteen years, Camoens, in 1569, 
returned to Lisbon, unhappy even in his arrival— for the 



LIFE or CAMOENS. XIX 

pestilence then raged in that city, and prevented his pub- 
lication for three years. At last, in 1572, he printed his 
Lusiad, which, in the opening of the first book, in a most 
elegant turn of compliment he addressed to his prince, 
King Sebastian, then in his eighteenth year. 

The King, says the Prench translator, was so pleased 
with his merit, that he gave the author a pension of 4000 
rials on condition that he should reside at Court. But 
this salary, says the same writer, was withdrawn by Car- 
dinal Henry, who succeeded to the crown of Portugal, 
lost by Sebastian at the battle of Alcazar. 

But this story of the pension is very doubtful. Correa, 
and other contemporary authors do not mention it, though 
some late v^iters have given credit to it. If Camoens, 
however, had a pension, it is highly probable that Henry 
deprived him of it. While Sebastian was devoted to 
the chase, his grand-uncle, the Cardinal, presided at the 
council board, and Camoens in his address to the King, 
which closes the Lusiad, advises him to exclude the clergy 
from state aifairs. It was easy to see that the Cardinal 
was here intended. And Henry, besides, was one of 
those statesmen who can perceive no benefit resulting to 
the public from elegant literature.* But it ought also to 
be added, in contemplation of his character, that imder 
the narrow views and weak hands of this Henry, the 
kingdom of Portugal fell into utter ruin ; and on his 
death, which closed a short inglorious reign, the crown of 
Lisbon, after a faint struggle, was annexed to that of 
Madrid. Such was the degeneracy of the Portuguese — 
a degeneracy lamented in vain by Camoens, and whose 
observation of it was imputed to him as a crime. 

Though the great patron of one species of literature, a 
species the reverse of that of Camoens, certain it is that 

* About this time Georg-e Buchanan -wrote his eleg-ant Latin version 
of the Psalms in prison at Lisbon. 



XX COMPENDIUM OF THE 

the author of the Lusiad was utterly neglected by Henry, 
under whose inglorious reign he died in all the misery of 
poverty. By some, it is said, he died in an almshouse. 
It appears, however, that he had not even the certainty 
of subsistence which these houses provide. He had a 
black servant, who had long experienced his master's hu- 
manity. The grateful Indian, a native of Java, who, ac- 
cording to some writers, saved his master's life in the 
unhappy shipwreck where he lost his effects, begged in 
the streets of Lisbon for the only man in Portugal on 
whom God has bestowed those talents which have a ten- 
dency to erect the spirit of a downward age. To the eye 
of a careful observer, the fate of Camoens throws great 
light on that of his country, and will appear strictly con- 
nected with it. The same ignorance, the same degenerated 
spirit which suffered Camoens to depend on his share of 
the alms begged in the streets by his old hoary servant ; 
the same spirit which caused this, sunk the kingdom 
of Portugal into the most abject vaassalage ever ex- 
perienced by a conquered nation. "While the gran- 
dees of Portugal were blind to the ruin which impended 
over them, Camoens beheld it with a pungency of 
grief which hastened his exit. In one of his letters 
he has these remarkable words: ^^ Em Jim accaberey 
d, vida, e verram todos que fuy afeieoada a minha 
patria'' &G. " I am ending the course of my life — the 
world will witness how I have loved my country. I have 
returned, not only to die in her bosom, but to die with 
her."' In another letter, written a little before his death, 
he thus, yet with dignity, complains— "Who has seen on 
so small a theatre as my poor bed such a representation 
of the disappointments of fortune ? And I, as if she 
could not herself subdue me, have yielded and become of 
her party ; for it were wild audacity to hope to surmount 
such accumulated evils.'* 



LIFE OF CAMOEIfS. XXI 

In this unhappy situation, in 1579, in his sixty-second 
year, the year after the fatal defeat of Don Sebastian, died 
Luis de Camoens, the greatest literary genius ever pro- 
duced by Portugal ; in martial ^ courage, and spirit of 
honour, nothing inferior to her greatest heroes. And in 
a manner suitable to the poverty in which he died, was he 
buried. Soon after, however, many epitaphs honoured 
his memory ; the greatness of his merit was universally 
confessed, and his Lusiad was translated into various lan^ 
guages.* Nor ought it to be omitted, that the man so 
miserably neglected by the weak King Henry, was ear- 
nestly enquired after by Philip of Spain, when he assumed 
the crown of Portugal. When Philip heard that Camoens 
was dead, both his words and his countenance expressed 
his disappointment and grief. 

Prom the whole tenor of his life, and from that spirit 
which glows throughout the Lusiad, it evidently appears 
that the courage and manners of Camoens flowed from 
true greatness and dignity of soul. Though his polished 
conversation was often courted by the great, he appears 
so distant from security, that his imprudence in this 
respect is by some highly blamed. Tet the instances of 
it by no means deserve that severity of censure with which 
some writers have condemned him. TJnconscious of the 
feelings of a Camoens, they knew not that a carelessness 
in securing the smiles of fortune, and an open honesty of 
indignation, are almost inseparable from the enthusiasm 
of fine imagination. " Difficult as nature herself seems 
to have rendered the task of regularity to genius, it is the 
supreme consolation of dulness and of folly, to point, 
with Grothic triumph, to those excesses which are the 

* Not only into Italian, Spanish, French, English and Latin, but 
the Lusiad is even translated into Hebrew with great elegance and 
spirit by one Luzzetto, a learned and ingenious Jew, author of several 
poems in that language, and who died in the Holy Land. 



XXi] COMPENDIUM OF THE 

o^^erflo wings of faculties they never enjoyed. Perfectly 
unconscious that they are indebted to their stupidity for 
the consistency of their conduct, they plume themselves 
on an imaginary virtue, which has its origin in what is 
really their disgrace. Let such, if such dare approach 
the shrine of Camoens, withdraw to a respectful distance ; 
and should they behold the ruins of genius, or the weak- 
ness of an exalted mind, let them be taught to lament, 
that nature has left the noblest of her works imperfect."* 

The melancholy fate of the noble-minded and patriotic 
bard of Portugal was but characteristic of the race in all 
ages. To have expected any thing better for intellectual 
superiority, was paying too high a compliment to ordinary 
human nature ; and the Prince who might have appre- 
ciated and done honour to the Almighty's patent, in the 
exercise of one of the noblest prerogatives of a monarch, 
fell in battle. 

In personal appearance " he was of middle stature ; his 
face full, and his countenance a little lowering ; his nose 
long, raised in the middle, and large at the end. He was 
much disfigured by the loss of his right eye. "Whilst 
young, his hair was so yellow, as to resemble saffron. The 
similarity between the colour of the hair of Camoens, and 
that of Tasso, has been noticed by the biographer of the 
latter bard, as remarkable, both being born in countries 
where the natives are swarthy. Nicolas Antonio thus 
describes him : ' Mediocri statura fuit, et carne plena, 
capiliis usque ad croci colorem flavescentibus, maxim e in 
juventute. Eminebat ei frons, et medius nasus, csetera 
longus et in fine crassiusculus.' "f 

The character of Camoens has thus been summed up by 
Dom Jose Maria de Souza : " When in company he was 

* This passag-e in inverted commas is cited, with the alteration of 
the name only, from Lan^borne's account of the Life of William Collins, 
t Bibliot. Hispun. 



LIFE or CAMOENS. XXlll 

not reserved, but, on tlie contrary, jovial and jocose, until, 
weighed down by adversity, lie became melancholy. The 
love of his country predominated over every other feeling ; 
and to match him in that respect we must go back to the 
heroes of ancient Greece and Eome. His valour, disin- 
terestedness, heroism and nobleness were equal to any 
which the days of chivalry could produce. But his con- 
stancy and fortitude in his extreme adversity, in which he 
neither degraded himself by submitting to flatter, nor 
denounced the author of his sufferings, must always dis- 
tinguish him amongst the greatest men of all ages, for a 
virtue so rare, which only belongs to an eminently superior 
character. Descended of noble ancestors, the best poet 
of his time, a valiant soldier, and of manners correspond- 
ing with his other qualifications ; the sunshine of fortune 
never gleamed upon him, nor did he participate in any of 
her favours. After ages, uninfluenced by the ingratitude 
of his country, or the neglect of the powerful, have given 
immortality to his name ; whilst his lyre, more durable 
than a monument of stone, shall be heard throughout the 
habitable world."* 

* Faria Vida de Camoens. 



CONTENTS. 



CANTO I. 



Subject proposed 

Invocation to the Muses of the Tagus 

Address to D. Sebastian 

Assembly of Celestial Gods and Goddesses 

The fleet enters the Indian Ocean , 

Discovers islands there 

Description of the natives . 

Their intercourse with the ships 

Night scene 

The Governor of the isles visits Gama 

Bacchus resolves to obstruct the fleet 

His stratagem for that purpose . 

Attack by the Portug-uese on landing to "water 

Another plot of Bacchus 



Stanzas. 

1,2,3 

4,5 

6—18 

23-41 

42 

43 

45—49 

50—55 

56—58 

59—72 

73—76 

77—86 

87—93 

93 



CANTO II. 



Treacherous invitation from the King of Mombaga that 

the fleet should enter the harbour . . 2 4 

Messengers sent on shore by Gama to look at the town . 7 — 15 

Venus and Nereids save the fleet from pei'il . ] 9 — 28 

Venus appeals to Jupiter in its behalf . . 33 — 41 

His reply ..... 44—55 

Mercury sent to earth .... 56 — 59 

His message to Gama in a dream , . 61 — 65 

How the vessels escaped .... 66, 67 

They meet two Moorish ships . . , 68, 69 

Their account of Melinda and the King thereof . 70, 71 

Hospitable reception by the King . . 75^ 76 

Gama's address ..... 79—84 

The King's reply .... 86—88 

Night rejoicings in the ships and on shore . . 90, 91 

Visit of the King to the fleet . . . 92 — 103 

Gama's speech . . . . , 104, 105 

b 



XXVI 



CONTENTS. 



The King requests Gama to describe his country and 
relate its history .... 



Stanzas. 
109 



CANTO III. 

Invocation to Calliope . . . . 1, 2 

Gama commences his story ... 3 

Geographical description of Europe . . . 6 — 210 

Ancient history of Portugal commences . . 21 

Fidelity of Egas Mouiz .... 35—41 

Battle of Ourique .... 42—52 

Origin of the Portuguese shield and arms . . 53, 54 
Leiria, Mafra, Cinti-a, Lisbon, Elvas, Moura, Serpa, Alcacer 

do Sal, Beja, Palmella,Cezimbra, taken from the Moors. 55 — 65 

Alphonso at war with the Leonese . . 68 — 70 

Gathering of the Moors to invest Santarem . . 77, 78 

Defeated by the Portuguese . . • 79 — 82 

Death of Alphonso .... 83, 84 

D. Sancho besieges Sylves . . . 86 — 88 

Character of Sancho II . . . . 91—93 

King Dionis . . . 96—98 

Alphonso IV. . . . . 98, 99 

The Moors assemble again to invade Portugal . 100, 101 
The Queen of Spain asks succour from her lather, King of 

Portugal. .... 101—106 

The two allied Sovereigns defeat the Moors . . 109 — 118 

Episode of Ignez de Castra . . • 108—135 

Character of King Ferdinand . • • 138 

CANTO lY. 

State of Portugal at his death . . - . 1,2 

King John succeeds .. . • • 2, 3 

Character of Queen Leonora . . • 4 — 6 

The Castillians assemble in aid of her daughter Beatrice . 7 — 11 

D. Nuno Alvarez' loyalty . . . 14 — 21 

Battle between the Portuguese and Castillians 23 — 45 

The latter defeated . • . . 46, 47 
Alphonso after defeating the Moors, attacks the king 

ofAragon ..... 57—59 

Dies ; and is succeeded by John II . . 60 

King John sends to explore the East by land . . 61 — 65 
Emmanuel succeeds ; his dream of the Rivers Ganges and 

Indus ..... 66—75 

The King consults his council ; determines to explore by sea 76 

Intrusts the enterprise to Vasco de Gama . 77 — 81 

Vaseo de Gama's preparations . . . 73 — 87 

Parting of the armada with their friends . . 88—94 
The old man's farewell address . . .95 



CONTElfTS. 



XXVll 



CANTO V. 

stanzas. 

Departure of the fleet from Lisbon . . 2, 3 

Madeira ; coast of Barbary ; the Azeneg-ues . . 5, 6 

The Senegal ; Cape Verde ... 7 

Sant-Jago; Jalofos ; Manding-oes . . . 9, 10 
Dorcades ; Sierra Leone ; Cape Palmas ; St. Thomas ; Congo; 

the river Zaire . . . . 1 1 — 13 
A waterspout described . . . 16 — 22 
They land near the Tropic of Capricorn . . 24 — 27 
A native African met with . . . 27 — 30 
Vellosa's adventure on shore . . . 30 — 36 
Gig-antic vision of the Cape of Good Hope . . 37 — 60 
The Armada lands at Sao Braz . . . 61 — 64 
Currents encountered .... 66, 67 
The armada touches at Natal . . . 68 — 72 
Reaches Sofala ; description of inhabitants . 73 — 78 
The crews attacked with scurvy . . . 80 — 84 
Yasco de Gama compares his voyage with what is celebra- 
ted by ancient Poets, and concludes his narrative . 86 — 89 
Reflections on the same subject by the poet , 92 



CANTO yi. 

Hospitality of the Pagan King . . . 1, 2 
Gama takes his leave .... 3 — 5 
Bacchus descends to Neptune's abode . . 7 
Description thereof .... 8^13 
The sea Gods assembled by Neptune . . . 16—25 
Bacchus' speech to Neptune and the Gods of the sea . 27 — 34 
Neptune orders Eolus to let loose the winds on the Portu- 
guese fleet . . . . 35—37 
The fleet in a tranquil sea . . . . 38 — 40 
Vellosa, to pass the time, relates a story of a tournament 

in England .... 48—68 

A dark cloud appears, and the storm comes on at sea . 70 — 84 
Venus, the morning star, appears, and the goddess calls 

the sea-nymphs to her assistance . . 85 

Orithya, Galatea, and others, persuade Boreas to cease . 88 — 91 

Morning appears, and the mountain-tops of India . 92, 93 

Gama thanks God .... 94 

The poet's reflections .... 95 



CANTO VII. 



The Portuguese exhorted to the 

other nations reproved . 
India described 



warfare of the Cross- 



1—14 

17-22 



xxvm 



CONTENTS. 



Stanzas. 

The fleet comes to anchor, and a message is sent on shore 23, 24 

he meets with Mongaide, a person speaking the 

Spanish language .... 25 — 28 

he visits Gama, and gives a description of the 

country ..... 29 — 41 

Gama goes on shore . . . . 43 

with the Catual enters an Indian temple . 46 — 61 

Gama's interview with the Indian king . . 57 

His speech ..... 60—63 

Mon9aide's description of the Portuguese . . 68 — 72 

Visit of the Indian Catual to the ships . . 73 
Gama is asked to describe the pictures on the canopies and 

banners .... 75—78 

The poet invokes the Nymphs of Tagus . . 78 



CANTO yiii. 

Description of the pictures continued 

Night comes on, and the haruspices are consulted 

Bacchus appears to a priest as Mahomet, in a dream 

The priest consults his sect 

How evil advisers mislead kings 

Gama resolves to speak to the Indian king 

The King's speech to him . 

Gama's reply .... 

difficulty in returning to the ships 

On what terms he was allowed to return . 
The evil effects of gold 



1—43 

45,46 

47—51 

52—54 

54 

58 
60—63 
65—75 
78—91 
92—95 

97 



CANTO IX. 

Mongaide informs Gama of the intention to destroy his 

fleet . . . . . 7, 8 
He detains the Indian traders on board until his men and 

goods are returned .... 9 — 12 

Products of India carried back by Gama . . 14, 15 

Prospect of returning home . . . 16,17 
Venus determines to afford the voyagers a place of rest in 

an isle she raises in the sea . . . 18 — 21 
Summons the sea-nymphs, and instructs them as to her 

intentions . . . . 22,23 

Seeks also her son Cupid .... 24 — 36 

Her reasons explained to him . . . 37 — 42 

Cupid calls in Fame to his assistance . . 44, 45 

He discharges his arrows at all the sea-nymphs . 47, 48 

Approach of the Armada .... 49 — 51 

The island of Venus described . . . 52 — 63 

The navigators land and pursue the nymphs . . 66 — 84 



CONTENTS. 



Tethys leads Gania and his followers to a rich edifice on a 

lofty hill. 
The allegory of the happy Isle and sea-nymphs explained 



XXIX 

Stanzas. 

87,88 
89 



CANTO X. 

Happy state of the heroes and nymphs 
A Syren's prophetic song 

to reflect on the ill-requited valour of 



Pacheco .... 

The nymph continues .... 
Againher song- falls, in foretelling the cruelty of Albuquerque 
The nymph again continues and concludes 
Tethys leads the way up a rugg-ed mountain where a globe 

in small volume is displayed 
The Ptolemean system of the universe described 
Sketch of the geography of the world 
Indian history of St. Thomas the apostle . . 
Geographical description continued 
Tethys bids the Portuguese farewell 

Their reception at Lisbon .... 
The poet's conclusion, and patriotic exhortation to his Prince 



1—5 

6—21 

22-25 
26—44 
45—49 
50—73 

76—79 

80-91 

92—108 

109—119 

120—191 

192, 193 

194 

195 



THE LUSIAD. 



CANTO L 



A EMS, and tlie Barons' signally renowned 

AYlio from the western Lusitanian shore, 

Far beyond Taprobane a passage found 

By seas none ever sailed across before : 

In perils great, fierce wars on unknoT^ii ground, 

Meeting all adverse human strength with more : 

To found midst people of a different sky, 

A new realm that raised their names so high; 

II. 

Likewise those Kings whose memorable deeds 
Gloriously spread our holy faith and nation, 
And to the wicked lands of sinfiiL creeds 
In Africa and Asia, devastation ; 
And those achieving by their valour's meeds 
Trom the dread law of death their liberation ; 
Singing I will proclaim, both far and wide, 
If art and genius be not me denied. 

III. 

1^0 more of the sage Grreek, or the Dardanian,* 
About their great and perilous na\dgation ; 
Cease about Alexander ; wars Trajanian ; 
Of all their victories cease the long narration ! 
I sing the illustrious valour Lusitanian ; 
Neptune and Mars alike obeyed that nation ; 
Cease all that ancient Muse could sing or praise. 
Another valour loftier still to raise. 

* Dardaniunique ducem— iEn. Lib. ix. 100. 



Z THE LUSIAD. 

IT. 

And ye, the muses of my own loved river. 
Since ye inspire new ardour for this rhyme, 
Oh ! if, in humble song, I ventured ever 
To celebrate your stream with merry chime, 
Grrant now a style grandiloquent and clever, 
Harmonious verse and sentiment sublime, 
That Phoebus your bright waters may ordain 
Shall never envy those of Hippocrene. 

Y. 

Grrant me poetic fervour grand, and sounding, 
No rustic reed, nor flute devoid of art, 
But the loud trump, with martial notes abounding ! 
That fire the breast, and nobly move the heart ; 
Grant me fair verse to sing the deeds astounding. 
Of your famed people, with whom Mars takes part, 
To spread abroad, sing to the Universe ; 
If such a theme can be contained in verse. 

YI. 

And thou the high-born trust- worthy affiance 

Of Lusitania's ancient liberty ; 

And not the less, hope's most secure reliance 

That our small Christendom shall augmented be : 

Thou ! to the Moorish lance the new defiance, 

That miracle of our age's destiny ; 

Given to the world by God's almighty will, 

That the world shall for God great things fulfil : 

YII. 

Thou young and flourishing branch esteemed the best* 

Of a tree by Christ our Saviour more beloved 

Than any other born in the "West : 

Cesarean or " Most Christian " named or proved. 

Behold upon thy shield the example blest 

Of victory won ; a sign the most approved, 

"Which for thy arms He gave thee, and upon 

Mount Calvary, He carried as His own. 

* Sebastian, King- of Portug-al, then aged eighteen. This young 
Prince lost his crown and his life not long after at the battle of Alcazar 
in Africa. See Notes {a). 



CANTO I. 



Till. 



Thou mighty King, whose territories vast 
Are seen by the Sun as soon as he ascends ; 
Seen on his meridian ; and still seen the last, 
Yet still left far beyond, where he descends : (b) 
Thou ! who we hope shalt shame and bondage cast 
On the cavalier of Ishmael and his friends ; 
The Oriental Turk, and unbeliever, 
Who still drink freely of the holy river. 

IX. 

Incline awhile that majesty this way 
Tender in age which yet appears so ample : 
That now it shews what in maturity may 
Ascend triumphant to the eternal Temple, 
Let thine eyes here benignantly survey 
The lowly earth : Thou shalt a new example 
Of love behold for great and valorous deeds 
Divulged in verse to which such valour leads. 



Patriotism thou shalt see that yields to none, 
Uncompromising, high, almost eternal : 
No premium vile has ever yet been known 
To stain the history of my nest paternal. 
Attend : to thee the grandeur shall be shown 
Of those of whom thou shalt be Lord supernal. 
And thou shalt judge which is most exaltation, 
King to be of this world, or of such a nation. 

XI. 

Listen, and never with those exploits vain, 
fantastical, vainglorious, pretending, 
Shalt thou see thine joined in heroic strain, 
By Muses thus themselves to raise intending : 
Those veritably thine so great remain. 
The dreamy and fabulous so far transcending, 
That they exceed Khodamonte, even if true, 
Boger, Orlando, and all they were said to do. 



THE LTJSIAD. 



XTI. 



For these I \\ill produce a Nuno fierce, 

Who to the King and realm such service wrought : 

An Egas, a Don JFiias, — worthy of verse 

For which great Homer's lyre I could have sought. 

Then to the twelve Peers I set in obverse 

Magricos twelve, who nobly in England fought : 

I give you besides Qaina's illustrious name. 

Who to himself takes all Eneas' fame. 

XIII. 

Then if as set off for Charles King of Erance, 
Or even for Caesar, thou wouldst equals name ; 
Behold the first Alphonso, whose bright lance 
Obscures the brightness of all stranger's fame: 
And he, who his kingdom's safety to enhance, 
Did with a prosperous victory join his name ; 
Another John, a cavalier of worth ; 
The third, and fifth Alphonsos, and the fourth. 

XIY. 

Nor shall they be forgotten in my song. 
Those whom thy banner ever made victorious 
The warlike kingdoms of the East among, 
By lofty deeds of arms, and actions glorious ; 
Albuquerque terrible, Pacheco strong. 
Dreaded Almeidas, shall adorn my story as 
Eirst Viceroy of India and son : Castro the brave ;' 
And others who could defy death and the grave. 

XY. 

While these I sing, yet can I not presume, 
O King sublime ! to venture upon thine ; 
What time thou shalt the reins of Power assume, 
To give new matter for the resounding line. 
When they shall begin to feel the heavy gloom 
(Unto the world at large a fearful sign) 
Of conquering armies, and of actions grand, 
In India by sea, and Africa by land. 



CATTTO I. 



XYI. 



On thee the Moor keeps fixed his steady view, 
In whom he sees his destiny designed : 
Even at thy sight the barbarons Gentoo 
Bows his stiff neck ready to the yoke inclined : 
Thetis, the whole lordship of cerulean blue 
Has for thy special heritage designed : 
As if by gentleness, and valour won, 
She were desirous thou shouldst become her son. 

XVTI. 

On thee from the Olympic dwelling place 
Of thy two gTandfathers the souls look down ; 
<;--/One shining peaceful in angelic space,* 
The other by sanguinary battles known :t 
In thee their hope is to see still keep pace 
Thy piety and thy valour with their own ; 
And there in fulness of age thy place shall be, 
The Temple of supreme etemify. 

XVIII. 

But as the present time moves at slow pace, 
And for thy rule thy people much incline, 
Thy favour grant this enterprise to grace, 
That these my verses be considered thine : 
And thou shalt see immersed in silvery space 
.„ Thy Argonauts cutting the foaming brine ; 
Because by thee seen on the angry sea : 
And learn to bear our thus invoking thee. 

XTX. 

-In the great Ocean now the ships were ploughing 
Through restless waves their solitary way 
The winds auspicious were softly blovsdng, 
And in the concave sails did whispering play : 
Thesea the manes of Neptune's horses showing 
White on the tops of waves, in foaming spray 
Of concentrated waters, never stirred 
Till then by ships disturbing Proteus' herd. 



John III. King of Portugal. f The Emperor Charles V. 



THE LUSIAD. 



XX. 



When tlie Gods dwelling in Olympus bright. 
Of human affairs, the Palace Grovernmental, 
Assembled to discuss midst glorious light, 
In Council, future matters Oriental, 
Treading the crystal Heavens by that road hight 
\// Milky Way, through the regions firmamental, 
Summoned by order of the Thunderer bold, 
By the comely grandson of Atlantes old. 

XXI. 

They leave the government of the Heavens seven, 
Grift of still higher power to issue forth ; 
. .^High power, by which the Intelligence is given 
"" That governs the angry sea, the Heavens, the earth : 
Thus instantly met at one place in Heaven 
The powers inhabiting the frozen North, 
And those who hold the South, and parts besides 
Where Aurora dawns, and those where the clear sun hides. 

XXII. 

The Pather of Gods, in dignity sublime. 
Who vibrates the fierce rays of Yulcan, sate. 
On stars that shone refulgent, crystalline, 
With lofty mien, severe, serenely great : 
Breathing in countenance the air divine, 
rTo turn the human to an immortal state ; 
-' With crowTL and sceptre glittering, which shone 
Brighter than diamond, being a clearer stone, 

XXIII. 

rfln shining seats, with gold and pearls inlaid, 
r The other Gods were seated lower down, 
All in their places, with good reason made. 
Where order and arrangement both were shown : 
First, the most ancient and most honoured grade ; 
Lower, the places for lesser Gods were known ; 
When Jupiter, in tones at which air trembled, 
Began to speak thus to the Gods assembled. 



CANTO I. / 

XXIY. 

"Eternal inhabitants of tlie shining skies 

And starry Pole, your everlasting seats : 

If ye have not forgot the enterprise 

Of Lnsitanians, and their valorous feats ; 

Ye ought to have the knowledge before your eyes, 

That it is the firm resolve of the great fates, 

That for them shall be forgotten everything human 

Done by the Assyrian, Persian, Greek, and Boman. 

XXY. 

" Already to them (ye see) it was not denied 
With power quite unsupported, and yet so small, 
From the bold Moor, so strongly fortified. 
Where pleasant Tagus irrigates, to take all : 
The dreaded Castillian they ever have defied, 
Graining the favour of Heaven as still they shall : 
As erst they have achieved with glory and fame 
The trophies pendant on fair Victory's name. 

XXVI. 

" I need not, Grods, name that former fame to you, 

Which 'gainst the Eoman people they acquired, 

When in the fierce war under " Biriatu "* 

They fought with valour that you all admired ; 

I also omit remembrance to renew 

Of their renown, when he whom they desired 

To have for Captain, there a stranger went. 

And feigned that a stag with spirit divine was sent.f 

XXVII. 

" N'ow ye perceive them boldly still pursuing 
Across the dubious sea upon frail wood. 
Ways never used before, and not eschewing 
What the south-west, or south wind's forces could : 
That having seen, yet not content with viewing. 
Where day is longest, where shortest, still they would 
Pursue their purpose, over the wild waves borne 
p-To see the cradles of the radiant morn. 

* Traditional name of Viriatus — so pronounced by a Portuguese in 
describing- some Roman remains in Portugal to the translator. See 
Notes (c). t Sertorius.— Vide Plut. 



THE LTJSIAI?, 



XXTIII. 



" It tas been promised by eternal Tate, 
<^^/WTiose law inviolate can be broke by none, 
That for long time tbeir power shall be great 
Over that sea, which views the sun's red dsiwn., 
% Hard winter's passed at sea in shattered state ; 
Patigued, and wearied much, is every one : 
It would be therefore well, that they should be 
Shown the new lands, that they desire to see. 

^ XXIX. 



" Wherefore, as ye perceive, they have undergone 
During the voyage such rough and dismal dangers, 
Experienced such climes, such storms have kno^n, 
Such furious winds, inimical derangers ; 
That they shall be, I am resolved, now shewn 
Some shelter on this African coast, as strangers, 
Furnished with provisions the weary fleet to renew^ 
That agaii^they may their destined course pursue.'" 



When Jupiter had thus spoken, the deities^ 
In order did make answer, some perceiving 
Reasons for different opinion ; one agrees. 
Another doubts, reasons giving and receiving ; 
To Jove's proposal Father Bacchus sees 
Grrounds for withholding his assent, believing 
That in the East he should forgotten be, 
If Lusitanians reached the Indian sea. 



He had heard from the great fates that there should come 

A people very powerful from Spain 

By the high sea, to whose arms should succumb 

India, wherever Doris bathes : — that then 

By new victories his own fame should be outdone. 

Neither his own nor that of others should remain : 

That finally he was to lose the glory, 

Still celebrated in Nyssean story. 



ca:n^to I. y 

XXXII. 

He saw tliat having India subjugated, 

And never been by Fortune, nor by favour. 

As conqueror of India celebrated 

By the many who drink Parnassus' gentle river ; 

He feared his name should be precipitated 

In the waters of oblivion for ever, 

If ever should arrive in Indian seas 

The navigating val'rous Portuguese. 

XXXIII. 

Against him argued Venus ever fair, 
"Who much the Lusitanians approved. 
Because she found in them the qualities rare 
Of her own ancient Eomans whom she loved : 
In their brave hearts, the greatness of their star. 
Which in the land of Barbary they proved, 
And in their language, which might still be taken, 
With slight imagination, to be Latin. 

XXXIY. 

The circumstances fair Cytheraea stated ; 
And more, because from the Pates she comprehended 
That her great festival should be celebrated. 
Where the belligerent voyagers extended. 
Thus, one against infamy he contemplated. 
Another for honours, to which she pretended ; 
They thus prolong the strife, and so endeavour, 
Each one his own particular friend to favour. 

XXXT. 

^As roars the fierce south or north ^iad thro' the thickness 
^ Of the deep grove, the leafy branches breaking, 
■^ And with impetuous and stormy quickness, 

Pervades the forest with its mighty shaking ; 

The leaves fly off, and boil about in circles ; 

E/oars the whole mountain, to the loud blast quaking ; 

Such was the rising tumult of the sky. 

Amongst the Grods in sacred Olympus high, 
B 2 



10 THE LTJSIAD. 



XXXYI. 



But Mars, who tlie Groddess' argument liad turned 
Against the other parties in debate ; 
Either because his ancient lore still burned, 
Or he felt interest in the brave folks' fate ; 
Amongst the Gods stood up, his gesture turned 
To melancholy, and his countenance irate ; 
His strong shield from his neck was hung suspended 
Behind, but fearfully with his anger blended. 

XXXYTI. 

The vizor of his helm of diamond bright, 
And strong as adamant, he lifted slow, 
To state his opinion freely he came right 
Boldly before Jupiter, brave and armed so : 
And with his truncheon point the plains of light 
He struck with such a penetrating blow. 
That Heaven trembled — Apollo so deranging 
Of light a portion lost, his colour changing. 

XXXTIII. 

And said : " O Father ! whose imperial sway 

Groverns all creatures, made by thy decree ; 

If these, who seek the other hemisphere ; and they 

Whose worth and deeds have been approved by thee ; 

If now it be thy will that still they may 

"Without vituperation cross the sea, 

Listen no more, since thou art Judge erect, 

To arguments by those whom we suspect. 

XXXIX. 

" And if the reason be not given here. 

Well might Bacchus rather than thus contend, 

Overcome by the effect of too much fear. 

Sustain those from Lusus sprung, his ancient friend, 

'Not check the Lusitanians' career, 

Trom evil inclination w^hich will mend ; 

Though there be some who never cease to envy still 

The good, that others merit, and is Heaven's will. 



CAITTO I. 11 

XL. 

" And Thou ! great Father of intrepidity, 

Thy dread determination, hear nought against. 

Never turn hack — for 'twere timidity 

To desist from what's abeady been commenced. 

Mercnry, surpassing in rapidity 

The swiffc wind, or light arrow, has gone hence 

To shew the land, where they may come to know more 

Of India, and where their streng-th they may restore." 

XLI. 

When this was said, the Pather omnipotent, 
Inclined the head to what great Mars did say. 
Expressing thus benignly his assent. 
And nectar scattered over all ; while they 
Arose, and each God separately went 
.Somewards, along the glorious milky way. 
Taking their leave with dignity, as Grods 
E/eturning to their respective abodes. 

XLII. 

While in the ethereal palace of the sky, 
Beauteous Olympus, the Gods assembled were ; 
First to the south, then east, the vessels ply, 
( And into the waves of the Indian Ocean steer : 
Towards the coast Ethiopian, and descry 
Famed San Lorenzo, while the Sun severe 
Then burnt the Gods, who fishes once became 
To escape the furious Typhon's scorching flame. 

XLIII. 

So blandly did the winds and waters bear them, 
As those whom Heaven especially beMended : 
The sky was cloudless, and serene the air then. 
So that no danger could be apprehended : 
Prasso's promontory in sight did bear when. 
The Ethiopian coast more northward trended, 
Until, exploring further, they perceived 
New Islands which the sea closed round, and laved. 



12 THE LTTSIAD. 

XLIY. 

i Yasco de Grama, tlie brave Captain, was one 
Devoted to deeds of miglitiest endeavour, 
Whose proud and daring spirit was of that tone 
And strength that fortune deigns to favour ever ; 
At this place he was desirous to push on, 
As this land seemed to have been inhabited never : 
Porward still therefore he his course directed ; 
But matters did not turn out as he expected. 

XLY. 

Tor soon a number of small canoes appear, 
Coming from the island all in company, 
"Which, as the vessels to the land drew near, 
Were seen to cut at great speed through the sea ; 
The crews were delighted, eager to see and hear 
" What were the boats ? who could the people be ? 
Why do they approach us ? (To themselves thus saying) 
What manners or customs have they ? What laws? What 
King ?" 

XLYI. 

The embarkations were of a make, most fitting 

Por going fast, being narrow and very long : 

The sails they carried seemed to be made of matting 

Of palm-tree leaves, and woven very strong ; 

The people's colour was that brown sort of blacking, 

Phaeton gave the burning earth he dashed along,* 

Daringly imprudent, with fiery chariot-wheels ; 

As Padus knows, and Lampethusa feels. 

XLYII. 

In vestments made of cotton they were dressed, 
Of various colours, white, or striped, or patched : 
Some of them wore girdles round about the waist, 
Others more airily bore their clothes detached : 
Above whose middle no cover the person graced, 
Por arms they had daggers and cimeters attached ; 
With high toques on their heads, — thus gaily saiHng : 
And with strange trumpets sounding they came hailing. 

* Mn. X. 1. 189. 



ca:etto I. 13 



XLYIII. 



And wifh their clothes and with their arms made sign 
To the Lusitanian vessels, them awaiting ; 
But now the light canoes towards shore incline, 
Close to the islands the strange ships inviting : 
The people and mariners in labour join, 
As if their voyage there were terminating : 
They take in sail, — the yard runs down the mast ; 
Up jumps the sea, torn by the anchor cast. 

XLIX. 

They had not anchored, when the men of the isle, 

By means of ropes, on board of them ascended : 

And with such peaceful mien, that in good style 

The great Captain to receive them condescended : 

Commanding tables to be set out the while ; 

And liquor with which Lyseus supper had ended ; 

They fill up cups of crystal with good wine : 

Which the men whom Phaeton scorched did not decline. 

L. 

Eating and drinking merrily these enquired 

In the Arabian tongue, from whence they came : 

Who they were ; from what country ; what they desired 

On what parts had they sailed of the stormy main. 

The Lusitanians said all that was required, 

Discreetly answering as them became : 

" We are the Portuguese come from the West ; 

And we are seeking the countries of the East. 

LI. 

" The sea we have traversed, and our exploration 

All parts of the Antarctic, and Callisto includes ; 

Of all Africa the circumnavigation ; 

And diverse countries in various latitudes : 

We serve the King of a very powerful nation, 

So amiable and conciliating, that if he would, 

His men of war, not only the high sea, 

Bat Acheron's lake would sail right cheerfully. 



14 THE LrSIAD. 

MI. 

" And by his mandate we liave thus far souglat 
The Oriental regions, Indus laves : 
For him we navigate this sea remote, 
Where only ugly Phoca plough the waves, 
But now 'tis reasonable we should note. 
What people 'tis who thus our ships receives, 
And, truly ; what is this land your habitation ? 
Or have you of India any information ?" 

LIII. 

" We are (one of the Islanders replied) 

Strangers in the land, both as to law and nation ; 

The owners are those for whom nature did provide 

Soil only, having neither faith nor information. 

We keep the true law given for our guide 

By the bright descendant of Abraham, whose domination 

Extends o'er all the world he did subdue ; 

Whose parentage joined the Grentile and the Jew. (d) 

LIA\ 

" The little island, we inhabit here, 

To all this region forms a certain station 

Tor boats that pass between various places near, 

In Quiloa's, Momba9a's, Sofala's navigation : 

Though owners of the land we now appear, 

It only is our temporary habitation : 

And (to complete the intelligence you seek) 

'Tis called the little Isle of Mozambique. 

LY. 

" And since that ye have been so long at sea, 
Seeking the Indian Hydaspes, and countries warm, 
A pilot ye shall have, by whom ye shaU be 
Guided wisely across the waves quite safe from harm : 
Besides ye must want provisions, therefore ye 
The E-egent who governs here should not alarm,. 
But let him see you, that he may provide 
Such necessaries as can be supplied." 



CA2?T0 I. 15 



LYI. 



Thus saying, the hospitable Moor withdrew 

To his light boats with all his company : 

Taking leave of the great Captain and his crew, 

With demonstrations of due courtesy. 

Just then the bright day closed on the waters blue ; 

PhcEbus shut his crystal chariot in the sea, 

And in going to sleep, he gave his sister charge 

To illuminate, while he slept, the world large. 

LYII. 

The night was passed by the weary people afloat 

In unwonted merriment, and careless glee ; 

Glad to learn anything about the remote 

Countries they had so long desired to see. 

At length each to himself began to note, 

How strange the ways of these Islanders seemicd to be ; 

And thus perpending they believed that so, 

They should find the world as far as they might go. 

LYIII. 

Brightly the moon's beams glittering, dancing, trembling, 
j On Neptune's waves their lucid silver shed ; 
I The Heaven, with stars attendant, much resembling 
Fields with daisies and other flowers bespread : 
The furious winds to a great distance rambhng, 
Slumbered in caves where none their tempests dread ; 
But still in the fleet the people vigils kept, 
Accustomed long to watch while others slept. 

LIX. 

But as soon as the gold-bespangled dawn 

, Aurora's scattered tresses did adorn, 

I "Waking from slumber bright Hyperion 
To ope the rosy portals of the morn ; 
Gay flags and banners the whole fleet put on, 
Canopies and awnings rich each deck adorn, 
To receive with merriment, and festivity, 
The Governor of the Isles who put to sea. 



16 THE LrSIAD. 

LX. 

In his barge, and wafted by a gentle wind, 

To visit the Lusitanian vessels coining, 

With refreshments from the land, but in his mind. 

Believing these were people most inhuman, 

"Who from their Caspian homes now came inclined 

To conquer the lands of Asia, which o'ercoming. 

It would follow in the order straight of fate 

They Constantine's Empire should appropriate. 

LXI. 

The Commodore received most joyously 
The Moor and all his train ; and more to please 
Made him a present of rich stuffs, which he 
Carried with him for such purposes as these : 
They gave him also sweetmeats, agoardente 
.y-The unused liquor, causing happiness and ease : 
^ All these the Moor received contentedly, 
And more contentedly ate and drank heartily. 

LXII. 

The Lusian mariners curious to survey 
Aloft upon the rigging had ascended. 
Observing the strangers' manners, and odd way. 
Their barbarous language not being comprehended : 
The cunning Moor was equally astray. 
Staring at colours, dress — the Armada splendid ; 
And much enquiring, asked the Captain worthy. 
If peradventure he had come from Turkey ? 

LXIII. 

Likewise, he said, he much desired to see 

The books of his Law, precept or faith he had received, 

"Whether they did with his own faith agree. 

Or if they were those of Christ, as he now believed, 

And that he might know all, and all things see, 

He begged the Captain who, as he perceived 

Had arms, to give him a sample or a sight 

Of those he used against enemies in fight. 



CAI^TO I. 17 

LXIV. 

To him tlie valorous Captain thus replied, 
By one who the dark language well did know : 
" Illustrious Sir, thou shalt be told, indeed. 
About me, the Ic:^^ I obey, what arms I can shew, 
I neither am of the land, generation nor creed, 
Of the angry people of Turkey ; but. Sir, know 
I come from warlike Europe, sent in quest 
Of Indian lands so famous in the East. 

LXY. 

" I keep His law, whose empire has no bounds, 

Whom the visible and invisible obey ; 

Who created all the hemisphere surrounds ; 

All sensible and all insensible clay ; 

Who patiently endured earth's mortal woirnds, 

^ death of torture suffering, that they 

To Heaven should rise, who gave that cruel death, 

Eor whose sakes He cam.e down from heaven to earth. 

LXYI. 

" Of this God-Man,— almighty and infinite. 
The books that thou wouldst see I have not brought ; 
, Well may I be excused if I carry not Avrit 
On paper, that which in the soul I ought. 
If of our arms thou still desirest a sight, 
According to thy wish they shall be brought : 
As friend thou shalt behold them, — for well I know 
Never canst thou wish to see them as a foe." 

LXVII, 

So saying, he commanded those about 
Eeady to obey, the arms to produce : 
And forth came si Ining breastplates, armour stout. 
Pine coats of mail, with lamina and cuisse ; 
Emblazoned shields, painted differently throughout, 
Great balls, small bullets, firelocks that could not miss ; 
Likewise strong bows, and quivers with arrows filled, 
Partisans and large half pikes with heads well steeled. 



18 TnE LTJSIAD. 

LXYIII. 

They see tlie fiery bombs, and bow they fitted 

The mortars sulphurous, so JFliII of harm, 

But by those so favoured of Yulcan, 'twas not permitted 

To fire the dread engines and so create alarm : 

Because amongst people few, and so outwitted, 

The generous and valiant put not forth his arm 

To shew them all he could do : reason blames, 

Those who could play the lion amongst lambs. 

LXIX. 

But to all with which the Moor had been entertained, 
And all he had viewed with most demure attention, 
A certain hatred in his mind remained. 
An evil will, a thought of bad intention : 
In manner and countenance he still retained. 
The smiles and gaiety, — though all pretension. 
Determined to deal gently with them 'till he could 
Carry into efiect what in his mind he would, (e) 

LXX. 

Pilots were asked for by the Captain brave. 

By whom he might to India be taken : 

The Moor said, that a large premium they must have 

For the work to be by them thus undertaken. 

These were promised by the Moor with visage grave. 

But venomous breast — and evil intent imshaken — 

So that, if instead of pilots he could have given 

Death, against death, not waves, they must have striven. 

LXXT. 

So great was the hatred, and such the enmity, 
That suddenly towards the strangers he conceived. 
On learning they were followers of the verity 
The Son of David taught and they believed ! 
Oh ye secrets of that Eternity, 
At whose judgment none have ever yet arrived ! 
Ungrateful mortals ! that never fail to find 
Perfidious enemies to such a friend ! 



CANTO I. 19 

LXXII. 

At length he departed with all his company, 
Of the men-of-war, the false Moor taking leave, 
With deceitful and very great courtesy, 
With joyous gesture to all — meant to deceive. 
The little boats cut across the narrow sea 
To the shore, where waiting assembled to receive 
The Eegent, the obsequious multitude had come. 
To where he landed, whence he returned home. 

LXXIII. 

Erom bright ethereal seat, the Theban great. 

Who from the thigh paternal had been born, (/) 

Perceiving that the Lusitanian fleet. 

To the Moor was an object of both hate and scorn ; 

In his mind conceived a mischievous conceit. 

By which the whole should be destroyed next morn ; 

And whilst thus his evil imagination mused. 

To himself thinking, these were the words he used. 

LXXIV. 

" It is already determined on by fate, 
That by the Portuguese who come so far 
Shall victories be achieved, and triumphs great 
Over Indian nations in honourable war. 
And I, the son of the Pather of lofty state. 
With qualities so many, generous, rare. 
Because the Pate favours others, must endure. 
That thus these people shall my name obscure ? 

LXXY. 

" Long before this, the Grods were pleased to see 
The son of Philip in this very part 
Acquire such power, that as a conqueror he 
Subdued the fiery Mars by arms and art. 
But to so few in number must it be 
Endured that the Pates alford such hand, and heart, 
That I, the great Macedonian, and the Eoman may 
Unto the Lusitanian name give w^ay ? 



20 



THE LUSIAD. 



LXXYI. 



" It shall not be ! for ere he can arrive, 

This Captain's daring course they shall arrest, 

Such cunning artijS.ce they shall contrive, 

That never shall he see those parts of the East, 

I shall descend to earth and keep alive 

The indignant feeling in the Moorish breast ; 

For he Vi^ill ever the straightest road pursue 

Who present time and circumstance keeps in view." 

LXXVII. 

Thus saying, very angry, and almost mad, 
Upon the land of Africa he descended, 
"Where, in the human form, and vesture clad. 
Towards Prasso cautiously his way he wended : 
And better to weave the cunning web, he had 
Assumed the person and the manner blended. 
Of a Moor who was well known in Mozambique, 
Old, wise, and highly valued by the Sheique. 

IXXYIII. 

And entering thus to speak to him at a time 
And hour fitting, as falsehood best discovers, 
He tells him, the people lately come to that clime ^ 
Seeking the East, were but a set of robbers : 
That along the coast the nations maritime, 
Loudly complained of these marauding rovers 
Who plundered and destroyed wherever they passed, 
But who always in peaceful terms the anchor cast. 

LXXIX. 

" And further know," he said, " I have understood 
Concerning these sanguinary Christians here. 
Whose track across the sea is marked with blood. 
With robberies, and with burnings everywhere : 
And now bring from afar the studied feud 
Against us ; and that all their intentions are 
To plunder and rob us all ; ourselves to slay, 
And women and children captives carry away. 



CANTO I. 21 



IXXX. 



" I also know they have resolved to land, 

Leaving the water early for the shore, 

The Captain, accompanied by all his band, 

But with evil intention fraught, men fear the more. 

With thy armada in ambush on the strand, 

Await him quietly, nor appear before 

They are landing, when, his people unaware, 

Will the more easily fall into your snare. 

LXXXI. 

" And if they should not be as I have designed 
Destroyed, or disabled totally for action, 
I have considered and formed in my mind 
Another stratagem for your satisfaction : 
Command a pilot who may be inclined 
To deceit and cunning, who in counteraction, 
Shall guide them where they never can avoid 
Being beaten, lost, and utterly destroyed." 

LXXXII. 

As soon as these words were spoken by the Moor who 
Was sage and old ; in these cases esteemed as such ; 
The Skeique around his neck his arms threw, 
Por the said counsel thanking him very much : 
And thereupon immediately he drcAV 
Together the warlike means within his reach ; 
All that could 'gainst the Portuguese be brought 
To turn to red blood the waters that they sought. 

LXXXIII. 

He also sought for that deceitful Moor 
Whom he could send as pilot through the seas ; 
One he could trust, deep versed in evil lore ; 
Who for great mischief could the fit time seize. 
Naming each dubious sea, and rocky shore. 
To which he should accompany the Portuguese, 
So that, if escaping here, he might advise 
Him onward to fall whence he could never arise. 



22 THE LTJSLU). 



LXXXIV. 



Apollo's ray now shooting np wards slied 
On Kabathean mountains rosy light, 
"When Grama with his crews determined 
Water to seek where the shore seemed to invite : 
The crews in the boats were for this purpose led, 
As if they already knew all was not right ; 
i But this was readily to be suspected, 
^J^oresight with falsehood never is connected. 

LXXXV. 

Also he bad already sent on shore 
To ask them for the pilot he required ; 
And was responded to in tones of war, 
Quite contrary to all that he desired. 
For this, and because he knew they greatly err 
Who with a false adversary are off their guard, 
He went prepared all due precaution taking, 
"With three boats only for the island making. 

LXXXYI. 

But the Moors who were awaiting him on the strand 
To defend the water to which they desired to go, 
Some shield on arm, and azagai in hand, 
Others with poisoned arrow, in bended bow. 
Expected that the warlike people would land, 
Others in ambuscade were crouching low ; 
And that the whole less hostile might appear, 
Stragglers were placed, approaching very near. 

LXXXYII. 

Strutting along the shining sand}' shore, 

The warlike Moors beckon them to advance, 

The valorous Portuguese inciting more, 

By quivering the dart, and deadl}^ lance ; 

The generous people were not long before 

Those on the quay shewing their teeth at them ; at once 

Each man ashore did leap — so lightly that none 

Could say Avho was the first or foremost one. 



CANTO I. 23 



LXXXTIIl. 



In circus bloody as the lover gay, 

Seeing the beauteous dame his heart's desire. 

Seeks the wild bull, and runs right in his way ; 

Leaps, runs, shouts, and beckoning, braves his ire : 

Whilst the ferocious animal at bay, 

Just then with front inclined and horns dire, 

Loud roaring runs, and madly shuts his eyes. 

Throws, tosses, kills, and prostrate the assailant lies. 

LXXXIX. 

Even so the fire was opened from the boats 
By the furious artillery resounding : 
The leaden bullets, from the brazen throats. 
Whistle through wounded air, killing, and wounding : 
The heart of the Moor quakes at the thunder notes, 
Their blood is cooled by the great awe confounding : 
Now the hidden ambuscade in terror flies, 
And the more forward foe discovered dies. 

xe. 

The Portuguese people not content with this, 

Their victory follow up, destroy and kill : 

The population without walls, without defences, 

Bombarding, burning, wasting, at their ^nll. 

The Moor thus by the troops brought to his senses, 

Who thought he could have caught them by his skill, 

Cursed and blasphemed the war, then cursed anon 

The stupid old man, and the mother of such a son. 

xci. 

Flying, the Moors uncertain arrows threw. 

With coward feebleness, and sorely pressed. 

Stones, sticks, and every kind of missile flew 

From hands by r^ge and terror at once distressed : {g) 

The isle and all abandoning, they withdrew. 

Dismayed, to the main land, defeat confessed : 

They cut through the arm of the sea that did embrace 

The island round about, in a short space. 



24 THE LTJSIAD. 



XCII. 



Some carry heavy loads in stout canoes, 

One o'er tlie sea is diligently flitting, 

Swims mid curved waves and to the bottom goes, 

Drinking the sea he is at the same time quitting. 

The small artillery deals destructive blows 

To tame a rude race such arm so well befitting : 

And with it, the Portuguese, in fine, chastise 

Malignant, vile, perfidious enemies. 

XCIII. 

Victorious they return to the armada, 
Bich prizes bearing, and the spoils of war ; 
And at their leisure proceed to take in water, 
Meeting no resistance, nor defence to bar. 
The Moorish people grieved deeply at the slaughter. 
In their ancient hate grew more inimical far ; 
And, suffering, thus unrevenged, defeat and shame, 
Pixed all their hopes upon the second scheme. 

xciv. 

Overtures of peace he penitently decrees, 

The Grovernor of that iniquitous land. 

Without its being obvious to the Portuguese, 

That in guise of peace, war they should understand : 

Por the pilot false to guide them through the seas. 

Who in his breast shut all the mischief planned, 

Was sent in token of peace for which they would treat. 

That he might guide them to death and final defeat. 

xcv. 

The Captain brave was now at length inclined 
To turn into his long accustomed way. 
With fitting time, and favourable wind, 
To go in search of where famed India laj ; 
Eeceiviug the pilot by whom he then was joined, 
He joyfully welcomed him on board that day ; 
And, responding to the call of this attentive guide. 
Ordered the sails to be unfurled wide. 



CANTO I. 25 



XCYI. 



The bold armada tlius artfully dispatched, 
Again the waves of Amphitrite divided, 
Nereus' daughters* accompanied and watched, 
Happy vessels with such followers provided ! 
The Captain, who no suspicion had attached 
To the Moor's stratagem that so much ill betided, 
Informed himself largely from his conversation 
Of India, and coasts then mider observation. 

XCVII. 

But the Moor, instructed in the stratagem 
That the malevolent Bacchus did contrive. 
Death, or captivity, prepares for them, 
Before they could in India arrive ; 
The Indian ports he did describe and name, 
And to their enquiries did freely answer give : 
That taking for true all that the Moor had said, 
Of nothing had the brave people to be afraid. 

XCYIII. 

He told them besides, with the same design to cheat 
"With which Sinon deceived the Phrygian nation. 
That near them lay an island, whose chief seat 
"Was the abode of Christia^n population. 
The Captain, the pilot did earnestly entreat, 
To give him more particular information, 
And eagerly urged him mth great gifts and prayer. 
To take him to the country where these people were. 

XCTX. . . 

The same thing the false Moor resolved to do, 
That the confiding Christian begged, the while. 
But the isle was peopled by the malignant crew, 
Detested followers of Mahomet vile : 
Here was the snare and death he had in view. 
Because in population and strength this isle 
Greatly exceeded Mozambique, and its name 
Was Quiloa, — an island very well known to fame. 



* The virtues, divine nnd human. (Castera.) 
C 



CANTO II. 



1. 

Now at this time the lucid Planet shining, 
Which into hours the joyous day divides, 
Beached the desh^ed goal slowly decluiing, 
To where the celestial light from mortals hides ; 
The maritime dwelling where with Night reclining, 
Bose Erebus, who to ope the gates abides, 
"When the dissembling people came on board 
The vessels almost before they had been moored. 

II. 

Amongst them came one instructed to essay 
The deadly stratagem, in words like these : 
" valorous Captain, who hast forced thy way 
Through Neptune's empire, over stormy seas ; 
The king of this isle transported, bids me say. 
Thy coming hither doth him so much please, 
He nought desires so much as to receive thee. 
See thee, and from all urgent wants reheve thee. 

III. 

" And since so urgent seemeth his desire 
To see a person of so much renown, 
I pray thee, wait no longer to enquire : 
Enter, and let thy armada see the town : 
And because such laborious course must tire. 
Thy people fatigued and feeble must have grown ; 
He says that in the land thou mayst have refreshment^ 
As by natural obligation is no less meant. 



CANTO II. 29 

IT. 

" And if thou sailest in search, of merchandize, 
Such as the produce of the auriferous East, 
Cinnamon, cloves, and burning spiceries, 
Or drugs salubrious, and in much request ; 
Or if shining precious stones would please thy eyes^ 
The ruby fine, or diamond hard and best. 
Hence thou shalt carry all in such profusion, 
As to thy wishes shall make full conclusion." (i) 

V. 

To this messenger the Captain thus replied, 
Expressing thanks for what the King had said, 
And adding, that because the sun in the sea did hide. 
His commands they should enter, could not then be obeyed. 
But as daylight would enable him to provide 
For the fleet anchorage, when of no perils afraid, 
He should then comply without more hesitation, 
And with a greater sense of obligation. 

VI. 

He afterwards enquired if in the land 
Were Christians, as the pilot had asserted : 
The messenger false, aware of what was planned, 
Eeplied, that the greater number were converted. 
In this way he was given to understand 
"Without suspicion, all so preconcerted ; 
Where the Captain was induced to trust so well 
People deceitful, false and infidel. 

VII. 

And from amongst some felons he had on board* 

Condemned for crimes, or for disgraceful deeds ; 

That they might be adventurous on shore, 

In doubtful cases (such as this) of need ; 

Two most sagacious he orders to explore, 

And of the deceitful Moors to take good heed 5 

The city, its strength, and above all to see 

The Christians, with whom he so much longed to be. 

* Erant enim in ea classe decern liomines capita damnati, quibus 
fuerat ea lege vita concessa, ut quibus cumque in locis a Gama relicta 



30 THE LUSIAU. 

YIII. 

And by their hands sends presents to the King'y 

That the good will declared so voluntarily, 

Should continue firm, secure, and smooth, and clean. 

The which in all things was felt quite contrarily. 

And now the perfidious company, unclean. 

Of the ships took leave, and ashore cut merrily ; 

"With gestures joyful, but all counterfeit. 

On shore were received the two from on board the fleet. 

IX. 

And after they were presented and had delivered 
Unto the King the presents they had brought, 
They ran about the city, and discovered 
Much less about it, than they deemed they ought ; 
The. crafty Moors assiduously endeavoured 
To shew them very little of all they sought ; 
"Where malice reigns there ever will be fear, 
The same to imagine in every bosom near. 



But he who the lines of ever-blooming youth 
Wears in his countenance, and who was born 
Of mothers two ; who framed all the untruth. 
To see the navigator overthrown ; 
"Was in a house of the city with visage smooth 
Of common hmnanity, and counterfeit go^vn, 
Pretendmg to be a Christian, and had built 
A sumptuous altar before which he knelt. 

XI. 

There he had in picture represented 

Of the high and Holy Spirit the portraiture. 

The white Dove with extended wings was painted, 

Hovering above the Phoenix Virgin pure. 

The holy company of apostles, sainted 

Twelve, whose disturbed and writhing portraiture. 

Under falling tongues of fire, expressed well 

"What various tongues might be employed to tell. 

fuissent, reg-iones lustrarent, hominumque mores et instituta cogxios- 
cerent.— OsoR. See Note (^). 



CAKTO II. ^i 

XII, 

The two companions being conducted here, 
Where Bacchus this deception did display, 
To earth fall on their knees, and raise a prayer 
To that Grod who the world doth govern alway. 
The excellent incense which perfumed the air. 
Odoriferous Panchaia's produce gay, 
Thyoneus burnt ; thus with false end in view 
Did the false Grod appear to adore the true. 

XIII. 

Here were at night shown hospitality, 

With all that was good and honest the Moors treating 

The Christians two, who no deceit could see 

In all this false and holy counterfeiting. 

But soon as the sun's rays began to be 

Scattered to the world, and in one moment fleeting 

The Titan's daughter raised her rosy brow 

Upon the broad horizon's purple glow, 

XIY. 

The Moors returned with the message from the main land 
From the King, that they should enter ; also the two 
Who had been landed by the Captain's command. 
For whom the King friendship professed to show : 
And the Portuguese being given to understand 
No danger awaited that he did not know, 
And as his men Christ's followers did discover, 
Determined to enter the salt water river. 

XT. 

Those whom he sent said in that land they had seen 
The sacred altars, and the holy Priest ; 
That there hospitably entertained, they had been, 
Lodged comfortably when darkness did earth invest : 
And that neither King nor people aught could mean 
But great contentment, and welcome to their guest, 
Thus it was quite impossible to suspect 
A demonstration so clear and so direct. (/) 



32 THE LTJSIAD. 

XYI. 

With this assurance the noble Grama gave 
A happy reception to the Moors who came ; 
E-eadily a mind with confidence will receive 
Professions thus put forth in friendship's name. 
The perfidious people filled the ship, and leave 
The boats alongside by which they reached the same, 
Happy came all, because they felt quite sure 
That the much desired prize was quite secure. 

XVII. 

On shore they cautiousty had got together 

Arms and ammunition, seeing the ships would come 

Above the bar, to anchor in the river, 

And there could be attacked and overcome. 

That with this treacherous design they should endeavour 

To effect the Lusitanians' total doom ; 

And thus incautious, that by this turn they 

For their misdeeds in Mozambique should pay. 

XYIII. 

The anchors tenacious they were taking up, 
With the nautical and customary shout : 
The foresails only in the wind did flap. 
As for the bar they carefully looked out. 
But the beauteous Erycina 'gainst mishap 
Still watchfal for the people on their route. 
Seeing the great snare, so secretly set forth, 
Flew with an arrow's speed from heaven to earth. 

XIX. 

I She called together Nereus' daughters fair, 
\ With the others of their blue-eyed company ; 

Who, as she. was born of the salt sea, were 

Obedient to her power throughout the sea ; 

And telling them for what she had descended there, 

They all set out and cordially agree, 
. That the armada should not be allowed to touch 
I Where certain ruin awaited its approach. 



CAE^TO II. 33 

XX. 

[ISrow througli tlie restless waters they glide with speed, 
J Tossing the white foam about with silvery tails ; 
Doto's bosom ploughs the green wave, and takes the lead; 
Traverses and o'er the bounding billows sails ; 
Fair Nyse springs, Nerine plunging spread 
Her light form o'er crisp water — each prevails, 
'Tin even through curving waves and angry surge 
A way is opened where the Nereids urge. 

XXI, 

On Triton's shoulders fair Dione sate 
With furious gesture pressing him along : 
Little felt he the light and pleasing weight, 
Pride of his beauteous burden made him strong. 
JSTow they arrived where winds less moderate 
The sails of the warlike fleet sat firm among : 
They separate, and at the instant put about 
The light ships who were a-head thus still kept out. 

XXII. 

The G-oddess at the bow of the Commodore, 
Took station with others a-head, and thus did close 
The way to the bar, the vessel made way no more, 
The wind the sails filled in vain ; while adverse those 
Pushed with their soft breasts the hard-wood before, 
Forcing the strong vessel backwards, thus to oppose 
Her course to the bar, while others took their station, 
Astern, there to cause greater deviation. 

XXIII. 

r As toil the provident ants to fill their store, 
\ Pushing the heavy load with all their force, 
/ Driving it with wondrous foresight home, before 
' Inimical winter stops their provident course ; 

Their toil laborious appears, — and skill still more ; 

Their vigour none could hope from such a source ; 

So toiled the Nymphs in strenuous opposition 

To the Portuguese people's way to their perdition. 

c 2 



34 THE LIJSIAD. 



XXIY. 



Back goes the vessel, being fhus forced astern^ 
Contrary to tlie hands at work, who loudly call. 
They brace the sails, the angry mariners turn 
The helm to one side, then 'tother, but bootless all ! 
From the poop the sagacious master shouts to warn, 
That right a-head the ship must surely fall 
Upon a pointed rock, so very near, 
That instant shipwreck is his greatest fear. 

XX Y. 

The dreadful apprehension thus arose 
In the rude mariner at his work engaged ; 
The bustle and noise alarm their Moorish foes, 
As if already the horrid battle raged. 
They know not the reason for such furious noise ; 
'Nov what to them the tumult wild presaged : 
But dread detection of their deceitful plot. 
And think they shall be punished on the spot. 

XXVI. 

Thus terrified they suddenly jumped into 

Their smft boats, they brought with them, still alongside : 

Others upon the sea themselves they threw, 

Seeking, by swimming, shelter in the tide. 

Prom one hand, and the other, off they flew, 

Eear driving them to quit the vessel's side ; 

Choosing mnch rather to be by water covered, 

Than into the enemies' ■ hands to be delivered, 

XXYII. 

I So in the wild sequestered woody lagoon, 
? The frogs — a Lycian people in ancient time — * 
Feel, if perchance a person pass too soon, 
Tor them, incautiously out, to hide in slime. 
Here and there leaping, quickly they are down, 
riying the danger which stops at once their chime ; 
And taking to the refuge which they know. 
Above the water only their heads they shew. 

* Changed by Latona, says the fable, when flying- from the serpent 
Python — where some Lysian peasants cutting- buh-ushes had prevented 
her from drinking-. 



CAKTO II, 35 

XXVIII. 

So fled the Moors ; and the treacherous pilot who 
The ships had guided to the rocky snare, 
Believing the Lnsians his deception knew, 
ried also, leaping into the salt sea there. 
But the rock immoveable to eschew, 
And thereby sweet and precious life to spare, 
The Captain's ship instantly let the anchor go, 
And others beside her also at once came to. 

XXIX. 

G-ama, attentive to the flying Moor 

So disconcerted ; and considering too 

The pilot's hasty flight, can doubt no more 

The evil intentions of the infidel crew. 

And seeing no hindrance to the ship before, 

No winds opposed, nor that currents the vessel drew, 

Yet that she could not be made to stir a-head, 

Held the escape to be a miracle ; and said : (m) 

XXX. 

*' Oh rare occurrence, unexpected, great ! 
Oh miracle most evident and clear : 
Oh disconcerted stratagem obstinate ! 
Oh enemy perfidious, falsehood to fear ! 
"Who could himself from such peril extricate, 
From evils so preconcerted and so near, 
If from on high the guardian sovereign power 
Aided not frail human force at such an hour ? 

XXXI. 

" Clearly that Providence Divine doth shew 
Of these ports the little security: 
Most plainly have we hnd before our view 
"What snare was laid for our temerity. 
But since neither human wisdom can eschew^, 
Nor prudence meet such insincerity ; 
";p thou Divine Protector, under thy care 
iTake those who without thee no protection share. 



36 THE LrSIAD. 



XXXII. 



" And if in thy benign compassion prone 
Towards this way-faring people miserable. 
Who by thy high beneficence alone, 
To save from perfidious enemies art able ; 
G-uide us, if so thou determinest, to one 
Port really secure with anchorage stable ; 
Where the country we are seeking we may see, 
Since we but navigate only to serve Thee." 



XXXIII. 

These pious words were heard compassionately 

By the beauteous Dione, who thereby moved, 

Prom amongst the Nymphs she hastes, who sorrowfully 

Awaited her, so suddenly removed. 

Then she penetrates to the luminous stars on high ; 

ISTow in the third sphere received, beloved, 

And onward still ; to the sixth heaven she hied. 

Where was the Pather to whom she now apphed. .: ;. 

XXXI Y. 

1 

'And as she braved the way celestial there. 

So very beauteous her mere gesture shewed, 

That the stars, the heavens, and all the ambient air, 

And every thing that saw enamoured glowed. 

Prom the eyes whence her son goes forth, the urchin there 

Some vital spirit breathed forth along the road, 

Wherewith the icy poles ignited were. 

And into flame turned even the frozen sphere. 

XXXY. 

And more to captivate the Sire supreme, 

By whom she was beloved, and was held dear, 

She came, and in loose hunting garb did seem 

As erst she did in Idean grove appear. 

If that hunter who, himself transformed to game, 

Had seen her as he saw Diana, in water clear, 

Never had he been torn to death by hungry hounds ; 

But sooner had he died by softer wounds. 



CAJ^TO II. 37 

XXXYI. 

The curling locks of gold flowed amorously 
Around the neck which had obscured the snow : 
And walking, the milky breasts moved tremulously, 
;AYhat time love played with them, and none did know : 
;Eound the fair waist flames flickered joyously, 
/"Whence the Boy lighted up each bosom's glow : 
■While soft desires smooth columns did unfold, 
Like ivy, climbing, ever around them rolled. 

XXXYII. 

"With a thin vestment only those parts are covered, 

Of which shame is the natural defence : 
/But neither is all concealed, nor yet discovered, 
• The two red lilies hid but on slight pretence : 

Mas, para que o desejo accenda, e dobre, 

Lhe poe diante aquelle objecto raro : 

Ja se sentem no ceo por toda a parte 

Ciumes em Yulcano, amor em Marte. 

XXXVIII. 

And in the angelic semblance she did shew 
That with her smile a grief was sadly mixed ; 
Like dame wronged by incautious lover, who 
In amorous sports had her ill-used and vexed ; 
And if she laughed, and yet distress might know, 
At the same instant happy and perplexed ; 
Such was the Groddess' art, by none exceeded, 
Who more in joy than grief with the Eather pleaded. 

XXXIX. 

" Oh, powerful Pather, I have ever understood, 
That for whatever at heart I may have loved, 
I should find thee tender, affable, and good, 
When nothing contrary thy heart had moved : 
But now that against me I see thy angry mood, 
Without me doing aught thou hast disapproved, 
Let Bacchus have his way, his wrongs permit ; 
While I must appear a mockery, and submit. 



38 THE LTJSIAD. 

XL. 

" This people who are my own, for whom I shed 
The tears— I see are only shed in vain, 
To whom I bring enough of ill, since thou art led 
By this my love to shew them thy disdain : 
• 'For them to thee I pray, I weep — arrayed 
' Grainst my own word the struggle to maintain. 
I would then, since their master is neglected, 
Begard him less that he be more protected. 

• XLI. 

" But to perish at length in the hands of brutal men, 
Who since I was . . . ." Here tender feelings suifuse, 
With burning tears her countenance again, 
As on the fresh rose descend the brilliant dews. 
Silent she stood awhile, — as if to retain 
The pious words she could not weeping use : 
He turned to follow her, and did even essay, 
The powerful great Thunderer , to stop her way. 

XLII. 

And to these gentle influences yielding, 
Which even had touched a tiger's rigid breast, 
With happy vis'age, like sunshine the heavens gilding, 
E-estoring the cloudy air to light and rest : 
Her tears he dries, and while warm lightning wielding. 
Kisses her cheek, and the pure neck embraced ; 
So that from thence, with very little care, 
Another new Cupid had been begotten there. 

XLIII, 

And with his own pressing the face beloved, 
Thereby the sighs and tears only increasing; 
>-Ijike to the infant by the nurse reproved, 
^And her caress but renders the tears unceasing : 
Anon to calm the breast with anger moved, — 
Many future occurrences the tale embracing ; 
The intricacies of the fates revolving, 
And in this manner, in short, events resolving ; 



CANTO II. 3r^ 

XLIV. 

" My beauteous daughter, be no more afraid 
That to thy Lusians danger shall arise ; 
Nor that any one whatever can claim my aid, 
Like these all-powerfiil and tearful eyes : 
I promise you, my daughter, it shall be said 
Forgotten are G-reek, and Eoman histories, 
For the illustrious deeds that shall be done 
By Lusitanians beyond the rising sun. 

XLT. 

" That if the eloquent Ulysses did escape 

From endless slavery in Ogygia's isle ; 

If Antenor could Illyrium penetrate. 

To Timavus' fount, and make fair Padua smile ; 

And if Eneas pious could navigate. 

And Scylla and Charybdis both beguile ; 

Your people resolved much greater things to do, 

Unto the world, new worlds have still to shew. 

XL VI. 

" Fortifications, cities, and lofty wall, 

Shalt thou see, daughter, wholly built by these ; 

The Turk so warlike, ever before them fall, 

Wasted and beaten by the Portuguese : 

The kings of India free and secure, till all 

The powerful King shall subjugate and seize : 

And Avhen the whole shall be subject to his command, 

Shall better laws be given throughout the land. 

XL VII. 

" Thou shalt see this fleet which onward presses now 
To India, through many dangers find a way, 
Make Neptune tremble, fearful not to know 
. How without wind, his curling biUows play : 
Oh miracle strange that never before was so ! 
"When the calm sea trembled and threw up frothy spray ! 
people powerful, of elevated mind, 
To fear which the very elements are inclined ! 



40 THE LrSIAD. 



XL VIII. 



C" Thou shalt see fhe land water was refused in, 

i Hereafter made a very decent port, 
After long voyages to repose wherein 
Ships from the west navigating shaU resort. 
The whole of this coast, where already they begin 
The deadly deception, obedient shall, in short, 
Pay tribute to the Lusitanian state, 
Xn owing they cannot resist the power they hate. 

XLIX. 

" And the Eed Sea so famous, thou shalt see 
Become quite yellow upon turning pale : 
The powerful kingdom of Ormuz doomed to be 
Twice taken, subjugated, and utterly fail. 
There shaU the furious Moor be seen by thee 
"When his own barbed arrows shall him impale, (?i) 
That whoever opposes your's, may plainly perceive, 
That in resisting, against themselves they strive. 

L. 

" Thou shalt see Dio the impregnable and strong, 
Withstand two sieges, and still belong to thine : 
There they shall prove to whom they do belong, 
Besolved in loftiest deeds of arms to shine. 
Grreat Mars shall envy the Lusitanian long 
His steady courage, and hate his warlike line : 
There shalt thou see, the Moor, in death extreme, 
The false Mahomet to the heavens blaspheme. 

LI. 

'^ Thou shalt see G-oa taken from the Moors, 

To become future mistress of the East, 

Kaised up by triumphs, courage that endures 

And ever warms the noblest human breast : 

On the Gentoo, who idols still adores. 

They shall place a strong curb, and be to all the rest, 

Of the nations they are seeking now afar, 

A power with which they would not be at war. 



CAjS-TO II. 41 



LII. 



" Thou shalt see the fortress maintained at Cananor, 
With little means, and men in number few ; 
Calecut on the coast of Malabar, 
A populous city destroyed, yet powerful too : 
And in Cochim thou shalt see, signalized by war, 
So much a bosom proud, and courage true, 
That never harp sung prowess more victorious, 
More worthy of eternal name or glorious. 

LIII. 

" Never with Mars well disciplined, enraged,'* 
Augustus saw Leucate boil more fiercely, when 
In the civil wars hotly at Actium engaged, 
He conquered the unjust Eoman, and did gain 
Victory o'er all that war against him waged. 
Cities of the East, the famous Nile, and then 
Bactrian Scythia strong, and the rich prize won 
Of beauteous Egypt, and fairer Queen undone. 

LIT. 

" As thou shalt yet behold the boiling sea thus, 
Contending with thy people's conflagrations. 
Carrying off the Idolater and Moor to be thus 
Taken, and triumphing over different nations. 
Conquering the rich golden Chersonesus, 
To far off China pushing their navigations, 
And remotest islands of the East, 'till they 
And aU the Ocean round them shall obey. 

LV. 

" Their progress, my daughter, shaU be at such a rate 
Exhibitmg strength above humanity, 
That never shall be seen prowess so great. 
Between the Indian and the Western sea : 
Nor from the waves of Boreas to the Strait 
The offended Lusitanian first did see ; (o) 
Even if all the world, the aggravated 
Of all past ages were resuscitated." 

* Vir-. Mn. VIII. 



42 THE LUSIAD. 



LVI. 



Having thus said, he orders down to earth, 
The sacred son of Maia ; to retain 
A peaceful haven, and a qniet berth, 
To which the fleet might go and secure remain ; 
And lest from Mombasa perchance not going forth 
The brave Captain there the fleet might yet detain. 
He orders besides that he in dreams should show 
The quiet harbour to which he was to go. 

LTII. 

Now Cyllenius through the heavenly airs ; 
With winged feet swift to the earth descends ; 
His fatal rod in the right hand he bears, 
"With which to sleep the weary eyes he sends : 
With this, unhappy souls he also clears* 
From Infernal regions, and this rules the winds : 
His winged helmet wearing on his head : 
And thus equipped he to Melinda sped. 

LYITI. 

With him he took Fame, that he should aloud proclaim 
The Lusitanians' worth so great and rare : 
,^A sort of love belongs to an illustrious name, 
[ Which renders those having it esteemed, and dear. 
By such art he made those friendly where he came, 
By rumour the Lusians so excellent appear, 
Already all Melinda ardently. 
The gesture and way of famed people long to see. 

LIX. 

Thence to Momba9a he did straight depart. 
Which the vessels still lay timorously before, 
That the people might be cautioned, and sooner part 
From the bar inimical, and suspicious shore, 

/Because little avail, or energy, or art, 

\ Infernal treachery and deceit before: 
t Little avail courage, subtlety or skill, 

fif from high Heaven there come not counsel still. 

* Virff. ^n. lY. 1. 243. 



CAKTO II. 



LX. 



43 



(Half way across the heavens the night had gone. 
And stars with distant light their vigils keep, 
And on the vast world with feeble brilliance shone, 
While mortals below enjoyed refreshing sleep. 
The illnstrious Grama now with vigils worn 
Had the night received thus far, watchful o'er the deep, 
At length his anxioLis eyes did briefly close, 
While watch other people kept during his repose. 

LXI. 

When Mercury came in a dream these words to bring, 
r" Fly, Lusitanian, fly the snare now weaving, 
/ Por thy destruction by the cruel King, 
j And final overthrow beyond retrieving : 
' Ely, while the winds and heaven favouring ; 
With weather serene, and ocean gently heaving, 
And for thy friend another king elsewhere. 
Where for thy safety, and welcome they prepare. 

LXII. 

r" Thou hast no better intended treatment here 
/ Than from cruel Diomedes was obtained, {p) 
Whose guests the usual food of his horses were, 
For such the fate of those he entertained ; 
The altars of infamous Busiris, where 
His unlucky guests immolated remained. 
Certainly thou shalt find here, with more delay, 
Fly these perfidious people fierce, — away ! 

LXIIT. 

/•"Depart ! along the coast let thy vessels run, 
( And another land thou shalt reach more fresh and green, 
Joined almost to the region where the burning sun 
Makes equal day and night there always seen. 
There thy fleet a happy reception every one 
Shall receive from a king, who friendly acts doth mean ; 
A kindly welcome for thee to provide ; 
And unto India, a safe and certain guide." 



44 TKE LTJSIAD. 

LXIV. 

Thus Mercury said, and from his dream relieved 
\ if The Captain, who awoke in sudden fright, 
^'^ And on the dark obscurity perceived 
A holy ray, to strike with sudden light. 
And when he wakened up he so truly believed 
To delay in the wicked land would not be right. 
He ordered the Master with resolution new, 
To loosen the sails before the wind that blew. 

-^ LXY. 

, ,^*~Grive the sails," he said, "full to the wind that blows, 
Since Heaven favours us, and God commands : 
I have seen a messenger from above who shows 
That heavenly favour guides our steps and hands." 
Upon this the obedient m^ariners arose, 
On every side shouted the active bands : 
Baising the anchors close up to each bow. 

Exhibiting that rude strength, they best know how. 

LXVI. 

During the time the ships their anchors weighed, 
The Moors concealed in the dark obscurity 
To cut the cables of the ships essayed, 
That they might on shore be lost effectually; 
But with lynx-eyed watchfulness and heavenly aid 
The Portuguese destroyed could never be : 
And wide awake here, they were not entrapped ; 
Sailing, and not remaining, they escaped, (q) 

LXVII. 

i'^Now the sharp prows of the vessels cutting through 
f The heaving billows their humid silvery way, 
The wind from the north-east quarter softly blew. 
And gently with the bounding waves did play. 
Of perils past conversed the Lusian crew, 
We do not readily forget the day 
Of great events, when on some grand occasion 
Life has been saved bj the exercise of reason. 



CANTO II. 45 

LXTIII. 

The ardent sun one daily round had been, 
And in another commenced, when appeared in sight 
Two ships at a great distance, that were seen 
Before the wind to steer their course aright: 
And as they were evidently Moors, and bearing in 
With press of sail towards shore as best they might : 
One from the dread of mischief apprehended, 
To save himself, ran his men ashore and landed. 

LXIX. 

Not so expert was the other ship remaining; 
About to fall into Lusitanian hands, 
Unless the rigour of furious Mars maintaining, 
And without the aid of Vulcan's fiery brands. 
But as she was weak and timorous, containing 
A small crew only, under a frail soul's commands, 
She no resistance made, and had such been offered 
More damage had unquestionably suffered. 

LXX. 

And as Gama very much desired to find 

A pilot to guide him to India he sought, 

Thought that amongst these Moors one might be inclined 

To go ; but it did not happen as he thought : 

There was not any one who could have assigned 

Where India lay, or knew about it aught : 

But they all told him he was very near 

Melinda, and that he would find a pilot there. 

LXXI. 

The Moors praised much the bounty of the King, 

G-enerous, liberal, of a mind sincere, 

Of great magnificence ; humanity, to bring 

Love and respect — such his great qualities were. 

The Captain as truth believing everything. 

Because the same words had already met his ear 

From Cyllenius in dreams ; his course pursued 

To where the dream, and the Moor told him he should. 



46 THE LUSTAD. 

LXXII. 

'Twas in that season gay, when Phoebus' light, 
The plunderer of Ein^opa did adorn ; 
Each horn warming with his radiance bright, 
And Elora poured out Amalthea's horn : 
The oppressive sun, encircling heaven with light ; 
,E,enewed the memory of that blessed morn 
On which he who governs all beneath the sun. 
The seal did place upon all that he had done. 

LXXIII. 

When the fleet advancing reached at length a part, 
Whence the Melindanian kingdom they might survey, 
Pavilions rich, adorned by costly art. 
Shewed well how much was esteemed the holy day.* 
The trembling banner, and flying standard impart 
Their purple colours to the landscape gay ; 
Merrily sounded the drum, and tambourine; 
And thus the gay, and warlike, entered in. 

LXXIY. 

Crowded was all the Melindanian shore 

With those who came to see the armada gay ; 

People for truth and humanity loved more, 

Than those of all other lands that behind them lay. 

The Lusitanian fleet came up to moor ; 

The heavy anchor to the bottom found its way : 

They then sent off" to land one of the Moors, 

To tell the King of their arrival on his shores. 

LXXV. 

The King who knew the nobleness of mind, 
Which so aggrandizes the Portuguese, 
Would esteem the harbour just as he might be kind, 
To a brave people coming from the seas : 
With genuine spirit was so well inclined. 
And purity, such as ennobles minds Hke these. 
Commanded him to beg they on shore would come. 
And in his kingdoms make themselves at home. 

* Domingo de Resurreigao (15 April, 1498.) 



CAKTO II. 47 

LXXTI. 

These invitations were veritably true, 
Words of sincerity, meant as well as spoken, 
By a King, to noble cavaliers thought due, ^ 
Wlio had passed so many seas, and shores so broken. 
/ He commanded woolly sheep to be sent them too, 
/,■ And domestic fowls well crammed, a welcome token, 
U With such fruits as that country yielded still ; 
And the gifts were far surpassed by the good will. 

LXXTII. 

The Captain brave received most cheerfully 
The agreeable messenger, and what he bore ; 
And afterwards sent to the King a present, he 
Had in preparation from long time before : 
A purple scarlet, shining ardently, 
-The branchy coral, fine, and valued more, 
"-' Which when beneath the waters soft enlarges, 
And out of them acquires a precious hardness, (r) 

LXXYIII. 

He orders besides one of eloquent address, {s) 
Who with the noble King should peace conclude ; 
That instantly he should leave the ship express 
To exculpate him for the encounter rude, 
Ambassador extraordinary, and no less. 
To represent to the King as well as he could, 
In such a style, by Pallas' s dictation. 
These words delivered in a set oration. 

LXXIX. 

" King sublime ! to whom Olympus pure. 
With most consummate justice did concede 
Power to restrain the proud, grace to endure, 
Nor more by thy people feared, than beloved indeed ; 
As to the haven strongest, and most secure. 
Known throughout the East in cases of great need, 
Thee have we sought, in hopes to find in thee 
Por all our wants a certain remedy. 



48 - THE LTJSIAD. 



LXXX. 



" We are not robbers, roviug o'er tbe seas 
Amongst tbe cities weak and undefended, 
Destroying the people witb fire and sword to seize. 
Their coveted goods, coming as friends pretended : 
But from superb Europe have crossed the seas, 
To seek those countries by such waters ended, 
Grreat and rich India, by the dread command 
Of a King whom we serve, very sublime and grand. 

LXXXI. 

" What rude barbarians may these people be ? 
Uncouth in dress, with hard unpractised hand, 
Who in these parts no harbours w^ill let us see, 
ISTor even take shelter in the desert sand ? 
What evil intention, or treacherous mind have we. 
That could be dreaded from so small a band. 
That armed snares we are compelled to avoid, 
By which it was ordained we should be destroyed ? 

LXXXII. 

*' But thou, in whom we firmly put our trust, 

O King benign ! in hopes that thou wilt shew us, 

That certain aid, consideration just, 

The lost Ulysses met with from Alcinous : 

Thy port secure, to which we find we must 

Come, was by Divine Intelhgence shevni to us : 

And which having sent us to thee, proves very clear. 

The intention to be humane, rare, and sincere. 

LXXXIII. 

" And be not surprised, O King ! nor think it rude 
That our enlightened Captain has not come 
On shore to see, and serve thee, as he would, 
Nor think that suspicion in his breast finds room : 
But know he does so, because it is understood 
In his instructions he has brought from home. 
Given by his King, that land he shall not explore, 
Leaving the fleet in any harbour or shore. 



CATs^TO IT. 49 



LXXXIV. 



*' And "because the subjects' duty is the same, 

As the others members owe unto the head, 
Thou canst not desire, havmg a kingly name, 
That any subject his Soyereign disobeyed : 
But the favours, and the gTeat benefit to them, 
They meet from thee, he promises shall be repaid 
In all that by him, or his people can be done, 
So long as rivers to the sea shall run," 

LXXXY. 

This was the speech, and all assembled there. 

One with another in their conversation. 

Praised very much the taste of the people who were, 

Through so many climes and seas, seeking information, 

And the illustrious King, the obedience severe 

Of the Portuguese, in his imagination. 

Held as gTeat valour, and as more exalted still 

The King, when these, so far off, thus obeyed his will. 

LXXXYI. 

And said, with smiling face and manner gay, 
To the ambassador : " Such is my esteem ; 
All evil suspicion cast from your minds, I pray ; 
IS^or let cold apprehension evil seem : 
Your worth, and laborious works in such a way, 
The world must quite inestimable deem ; 
And whoever to molest you could be inclined, 
Or to maltreat, can have no noble mind. 

LXXXVII. 

" As to the whole of the people not coming on shore, 
Eemaining to obey orders so expedient. 
Although no disappointment could grieve me more, 
Yet much I esteem those in so much obedient. 
But if their orders did not permit them before, 
Neither shall I now permit souls so excellent 
With their loyalty to make so very free, 
Only for the sake of gratifying me. 



60 THE LTTSIAD. 



LXXXVIII. 



" But when to-morrow's light on the world shall shine, 

I shall myself go in my canoes to see 

The strong armada, for I much incline 

To visit the chief, and in his ships to be, 

That I may more correctly ascertain. 

What damage they may have met so long at sea, 

For here they shall have clean minds, meet no disguise, 

But a pilot, ammunitions and supplies." 

LXXXTX. 

So spake the King, and down in the waters went 

Latona's son ; while the King's messenger 

Back with the happy embassy was sent 

To the fleet in his light boat, and on getting there, 

All hearts were filled with joy and great content, 

To obtain the true relief, in arriving where 

They found a way to the country they were seeking, 

And so they passed the night in merry-making. 

xc. 

/There were not wanting the artificial rays, 
I Like tremulous comet's tail, a fiery wonder : 
I Nor the bombardier's lightning, to whose sudden blaze, 
The heavens, the earth, and waves, echoed back thunder. 
They shew the Cyclops' exercise by displays, 
Of fiery bombs with burning fuzes under : 
Others with sounds the very heavens invade, 
By the noisy instruments on which they played. 

xci. 

/ The land responds jointly where the joy they feel, 
I Is shewn by the flying rockets, with hissing sound : 

In air by gyrations of the fiery wheel, 

By loud bursts of sulphurous powder from the ground. 

The people's shouts up to the heaven's peel ; 

The sea appears as if set on fire around ; 

Nor less the land ; the festivity exciting 

One and t'other much in the manner of fighting. 



CANTO II. 51 



XCII. 



But now the restless heavens ever revolving, 
Again the people roused, to labour loth : 
And now the mother of Menmon the light bringing, 
^-To reach long slumbers by the shortest path. 
Away went all the shades slowly dissolving 
In freshest dew upon the flowers of earth, 
"When the King of Melinda embarked with many more 
To see the fleet then at anchor near the shore. 

XCIII. 

On the shores adjacent was seen one fervent throng 

Of glad crowds, come there the embarkation to see : 

"Where cabaias of finest purple gaily shone : 

Or glossy garments of woven silk might be. 

Of \\^arlike azagais there were seen none. 

But in their stead green boughs of the palm-tree ; 

No bow appeared there, aping the moon's horns ; 

But the palm-bough ; true victor's crown, the day adorns. 

xciv. 

A large and spacious barge came canopied 
With silks of various colours and tasselled cords, ' 
Bearing Melinda' s King, accompanied 
By the nobles of his kingdom, and by lords. 
He came in adorned vestments richly clad, 
. Of fashions, such as old custom there aflbrds ; 
On the head he wore a turban decorated 
"With gold, with silver^ and with cotton plaited. 

XCY. 

• Cabaia of rich damask, in graceful fold, 
Of Tyrian colour, by them esteemed as such ; 
A collar round the neck, of purest gold. 
Workmanship surpassing the material much ; 
As the adamantine reflected splendour told. 
In the girdle glittered the well wrought dagger rich ; 
And on the alparcas of his feet, seemed well met, 
Seed-pearls and gold quite covering the velvet. 



52 THE LirsiAi>. 

XCTI. 

With a roirnd elevated silken shade, 

In "which was inserted a gilt and lofty staff, 

An attendant slave the solar rays forbade 

To offend, — and from the great King gnarded off. [made 

Music strange they brought in the prow, yet blythe, which 

Sharp notes, so shrill, horrisouous, and rough ; 

Of trumpets arched, or curved entirely round, 

That made without concert, only a rude sound. 

XCVII. 

'Not less provided went the Lusitanian, 

In the long boats belonging to the fleet, 

To receive upon the sea the Melindanian, 

With an illustrious company the King to greet. 

In Spanish dress Grama was seen by many in, 

But Erench was the cloak he put on for this fete, 

Of satin from Adriatic Yenice brought. 

Crimson the colour ; of which so much is thought.^) 

XCTIII. 

With buttons of gold the sleeves were thickly set. 
Which, the sun reflecting, almost dazzled the* eves : 
The soldierly trowsers were embroidered with that 
Metal which Fortune to so many denies : 
And delicate points of the same metal were what 
The doublet joined, and of the same were the ties, 
Which, after the Itahan mode, the sword-be]t joined ; 
And in hat, a plume rather to one side inclined. 

XCIX. 

Ours in his company displayed the dye, 

G-iven by the Murice shell,' so excellent. 

The varied coloiu-s did much delight the eye, 

And the contrast of garbs so different. 

Such were the colours' beauteous harmony, 

Of the various vestments in one prospect blent, 

That this resembled most the shining glow 

Of the nymph, Thaumas' daughter's heavenly bow. 



i 



CANTO n. 53 



c. 



Loud trumpets were heard above the people's shout, 
Inciting happy spirits by their resounding : 
The Moorish boats threw the curling sea about, 
Flinging the canopies over the waters bounding. 
The horrisonous mortar's thunder bellowed out. 
With clouds of smoke the very sun confounding ; 
The fiery roar to repeat itself appears, 
And with their hands the Moors had to shut their ears, 

CI. 

Now, having entered into the Captain's boat. 

The King thereupon took him in his arms ; 

And with due courtesy, and as he ought, 

(To a King) to have done, spoke in respectful terms. 

With much astonishment, the Moor did note. 

The countenance, bearing, exercise, and arms ; 

As if he held in highest estimation 

Those who from such distance came for information. 

CII, 

And with great words of compliment he ofiers 

All that could by his kingdom be supplied ; 

And said, should provisions be out in Gama's coffers, 

He should ask as though his own,and should not bedenied. 

He said besides, that as geographers 

He knew by fame the Portuguese he now admired : 

Aad had already heard that in countries afar 

With people of his law they had been at war. 

cm. 

And as throughout all Africa resound. 

He said, the fame of the great things they have done, 

When in it by their valour alone they found 

A crown, which from land of Hesperides they won. 

And in many very lofty terms he owned 

The least the Lusitanians had done. 

And the greatest too, that by fame had been spread wide : 

When Grama in this manner to the King replied. 



54* THE LUSIA3). 

CIF, 

" Oh tlipu wHo alone liast shewn some pity, 

O King benign ! for the wandering Portuguese^ 

"Who with so much misery and adversity, 

Experienced the insane fury of the seas ! 

-May that high and divine Eternity, 

Which heaven revolves, and mankind rules and sees, 

Since we from thee have such assistance got, 

E/opay to thee what we ourselves cannot. 

qy. 

" O thou who alone of all whom Apollo burns, 
Eeceivest us in peace from the deep sea, 
I A fleet driven by horrid winds of Eolus, learns 
Happy refuge, and good faith, are alone in thee. 
As long as the firmament round the great Pole turns. 
And the sun gives light to the world, so long shall we. 
Live where I may, with what fame, or glory may give, 
Thy praises shall ever in my memory live." 

CTI. 

On saying this, the barges proceeded to row 
Towards the fleet, to see which the Moor desired ; 
Thus round each vessel one by one they go. 
That he might see all, and note what he admired. 
But Vulcan kept blazing at the heavens to show, 
The fleet the day held festival, and mortars fired : 
Whilst the harmonious trumpets also sounded ; 
To which the Moorish anafils responded. 

CYII. 

But after all had been attentively seen 
By the kind Moor, who then felt quite confounded, 
Heariug the uncommon instrument, that had been 
The cause to him of such terror when it sounded ; 
He commanded them to be quiet, and anchored in 
The light boat in which they had the vessels rounded. 
That he might with Grama have more conversatioUj 
In full about his history, fame, and nation. 



CAKTO II. 55 



CVIII. 



In sucli diverse familiar discourses 
The Moor was pleased to indulge, nor did he oiait 
To ask about famous wars, and warlike forces, 
With, and pertaining to, people of Mahomet : 
Again he wished to hear what nations o'er seas 
Were in all Hesperia, where their bounds were set : 
Again, concerning the neighbouring people's abodes ; 
Anon of the many seas, or humid roads. 

cix. 

*' But first, O valorous Captain, pray relate," 

He said, "particularly, and in detail, 

All about thy country, the climate, circle great 

Of the world where thou dwellest, — distinctly all ; 

And likewise of your nation's original state, 

And beginning of the kingdom you powerful call, 

With successes in the wars, from the beginning. 

Without knowing them, I know they are worth esteeming. 

ex, 

*' And tell us likewise of all thy wanderings 

Far and near, driven about by the angry sea; 

What barbarous customs and what other things. 

That our rude Africa puts forth, thou chanced to see, 

Eecount ; whilst the golden-bridled horses bring 

The car, inlaid with Orient ruby, 

With the new sun from cold Aurora's sky, 

Now the wind sleeps, the sea and waves tranquil lie. 

CXI. 

" And not less favouring these wild elements are 

Than is the desire to hear thy tale of the seas : 

Tor who is there, by fame not already aware. 

Of the great doings of the Portuguese ? 

Nor is it more to be feared the bright sun would err 

And shine away from us, than to be thought that these 

Melindanian people have hearts so rude, 

As not to esteem those deeds that are great and good. 



56 THE LrsiAD, 

CXIT. 

"Mercely fouglit the proud embattled giants, 
In a vain war 'gainst Olympus bright and pure ; 
Piritbous, and Theseus, two ignorants. 
Attempted the kingdom of Pluto, void obscure ; 
If deeds as great were achieved in the world once, 
Not less should the illustrious toils endure. 
Much as was done in war against heaven or hell, 
Others the fury of Nereus stood as well. 

CXIII. 

" The sacred temple of Diana was burnt down, 
Which by the pious Ctesiphon had been built, 
By Erostratus, that he might be known 
And gain a name, as author of such guilt : 
If even, by such doings, we must own 
Desire of the advantage of a name is felt. 
Much more might they covet eternal glory 
Who deeds achieve that are worthy of memory.'* 



CANTO III. 



O THOTJ Calliope, teacK me how to sing 

What the illustrious Gama did relate : 

Inspire immortal song, and voice divine, 

In this mortal breast, whose love for thee is great. 

So may the bright inventor of medicine, 

To whom thou didst bear Orpheus, never abate, 

For Daphne, Clitia, or Leucothoe, the flame 

He owes to thee alone, O beauteous dame ! (w) 

II. 

O Nymph divine, so favour the song I propose. 

As well deserves the Lusitanian nation ; 

That the world may see, and know, that from Tagus flowSj 

The Aganippan liquor's emanation : 

Leaving the flowers of Pindus, that my brows 

Apollo may bathe with water of inspiration, 

If not, I shall say, that thou wert not well assured, 

That thy loved Orpheus should not be obscured. 

III. 

Eeady were all, attentively to hear 
"What the sublime Grama was desired to unfold ; 
When after a little, and with pensive air, 
Eaising his countenance, thus his tale he told : 
" Thou commandest me, King ! that I shall declare 
The grand genealogy of my nation old : 
Thy command is not to make a strange history known, 
But rather that I laud the glories of my own. 

D 2 



58 THE LTJSIAD. 

IT. 

" The higli deserts of otlaers to extol, 

Is what we are accustomed to do, and desire : 

But to celebrate my own race, alarms my soul, 

Lest praise so suspicious would not raise them higher : 

I fear it would ill become me to say all. 

And that I, however long the time, should more require ; 

But though at thy command, and aU is due to thee j 

I shall fall short of my duty, and brief must be 1 

T. 

" I must say too, that what I strictly owe to all, 
Is not to depart from truth in what I may say ; 
Because of such actions, the more I can recal, 
More will remain to be told than tell I may : 
But, as in this, order must be observed, I shall, 
According to thy desire to know, obey — 
Pirst, I shall treat of the extent of land and shores, 
And afterwards of sanguinary wars. 

YI. 

" Between the zone, which Cancer, it's lord, doth hold, 
The Northern limit of the shining sun. 
And that, which is dreaded just as much for cold. 
As that in the middle for heat men seek to shun. 
Proud Europe lies, which subject waves enfold 
Both towards Arcturus, and the setting sun; 
Indented shores lashed by old Ocean's waves : 
The Austral shore the Mediterranean laves. 

TII. 

"That side from whence the new-born day arose, 

"With Asia is contiguous ; but the river. 

Which down from the Bhiphsean mountains flows 

Into the lake Moeotis, frigid ever. 

And winding, divides : that sea too, of ancient woes, 

"Which under the Grreeks' sway was tranquil never, 

Where the mariner now pursues his course in joy, 

Nor sees one vestige of triumphant Troy. 



CANTO III. " 59 

VIII. 

" There lower down, and more tlie Pole below, 
The mountains Hjrperborean appear, 
And those whence Eolus doth ever blow, 
And with the names of the winds distinguished are : 
Here so little force have Apollo's beams, that throw 
Splendour on all the rest of the world, that here, — 
Snow lies continuallj upon the mountains, — ■ 
Frozen the sea, for ever ice the fountains. 

IX. 

" Here do the Scjrthians in great numbers dwell. 
Who formerly great war continually made 
About human antiquity, as historians tell, 
With those who Egyptian earth and sky surveyed, 
But however ancient historians may excel, 
(And that human judgment errs is as often said) 
All who would know more of that need not ask us. 
But make inquiry at the camp of Damascus. 

X. 

" Now these northern territories are thus expressed : 
Lapland the cold, rugged Norwegia high ; 
The Scandinavian presqu-ile, all being dressed 
In victories, Italy never can deny :* 
Here, when frozen winter may not arrest 
The waves, so as navigation to defy. 
An arm of the Sarmatic ocean is then 
Navigated by Prussia, Sweden, and the Dane. 

XI. 

" Between this sea and the Tanais dwell people strange ; 

Euthenos, Moscos, and Livonians, 

Sarmatians once, and in the mountain range 

Hercynian, the Marcomanos are Polonians. 

Subject to the empire of Grermany remain 

The Saxons, Bohemians, and Pannonians, 

And other various nations, which the cold Khine 

Waters, and the Danube, Ems, and Elbe define. 

* In the year 409 the city of Rome was sacked, and Italy laid 
waste, by Alaric, king of the Scandian and other northern tribes. 



60 THE LTJSIAD. 

XII. 

" Between remote Ister, and that famous strait 
"Where Helle left besides her name her life, 
The Thracians inhabit, by stout courage great, 
Native land beloved of fiery Mars and strife ; 
Where, with Hsemus, or Ehodope prostrate. 
To the Ottoman sway, which only spared the life 
To Byzantium for its own service indign ; 
Mighty injury to the great Constantine. 

XIII. 

" Then from Macedonia that people commence, 

"Whose country is watered by the Axius cold ; 

And also you, lands of excellence, 

In sciences, in arts, and courage bold ; 

"Who didst create that noble eloquence. 

And the beauty of loffcy fancy didst unfold, 

With which thou, fair Grreece, to heaven hast found a way, 

Not less in arms, than letters, renowned for ay. 

XIV. 

" Nest these the Dalmatians, and in the site. 
Where Antenor formerly the walls did plan, 
Venice superb stands up, a wondrous sight. 
Amidst waters, where the walls so lowly began. 
An arm of the land runs out to sea, whose might 
Did various nations subdue of fellow man ; 
Strong arm of a people, by all men's word. 
Not less renowned in arts than by the sword. 

XT. 

*' Encirled by the kingdom Neptunine, 

And by nature's o^vn high walls in another part : 

Divided in the midst by the mounts Apennine, 

Made so illustrious by paternal Mars : 

But since the time the Porter has been diviue. 

Losing the ancient valour, and warlike art ; 

Poor now the seat of ancient power we see : 

Teaching us thus much, Grod loves humility. 



CANTO III. 61 



XVI. 



" There G-allia may be seen, associated 

With the Cesarian triumphs of olden time, 

By the Seine, and the [Rhone rivers irrigated ; 

And by the cold Garonne, and the deep Rhine. 

Then the mountains by the Nymph's tomb nominated (v) 

Pyrene, arise beyond, rich with the mine 

From whence, when woods were on fire, (say stories old), 

Eivers of silver ran, and rivers of gold. 

XYII. 

" Behold from hence is discovered noble Spain, 
As if, of the whole of Europe it were the head ; 
"Whereof the lordship, and rare glories, have ta'en 
I On the fatal wheel turns many and varied. 
But ne'er by force, or stratagem, has knot or rein 
Unquiet Eortune there ever fastened or tied, 
That has not been by the strength and courage burst, 
Of the warlike spirits in its bosom niirst. 

XYIIT. 

" "With Tingitania for conterminous bound, 

As if it would the Mediterranean lock. 

Upon the well-known strait so much renowned 

By the Theban's extreme labour on each rock, (w) 

Different nations, which ocean's waves surround, 

Aggrandize Spain ; all of such excellent stock. 

In nobility and valour so equal all. 

That each of them, themselves the best they call. 

XIX. 

" It contains the Tarragonese, who in war excelled, 
Bravely subduing Parthenope inquiet : 
Navarre, and the Asturias, who repelled, 
At length, the intrusive people of Mahomet. 
It contains the cautious GralHcian, and held 
The great and rare Castillian, whose good planet 
Made him restorer of Spain, and sovereign still, 
Of Betis, Leon, Grranada, with Castille. 



62 THE LTJSIAD. 



XX. 



" Behold, as highest of the head defences 

Of Europe entire, the Lusitanian nation, 

Where the land terminates, and the sea commences ; 

And where bright Phoebus reposes in the ocean. 

This just heaven made to flourish, and recompenses 

Their wars with the torpid Moor by liberation. 

Driving him out altogether ; to be content 

With burning Africa, to which he will not consent. 

XXI. 

" This is that delightful land, my own beloved ; 
To which, should heaven permit me, from peril free 
To return — this enterprise done and approved, 
There also shall terminate this light with me. 
This name of Lusitania is derived 
From Lusus, or Lysa, whom antiquity 
Makes sons, or companions of Bacchus ; at least this 
Of the land most likely they were first colonists. 

XXII. 

" Of this country the'shepherd was born, who in that name 

The deeds of a mighty man achieved there ; 

Whom no one ever shall surpass in fame. 

Since even that great one of E-ome this did not dare.* 

This, the old man (Time) who to eat his children came. 

By decree of heaven, celestial and clear. 

Saw in this world perform a part so great, 

Creating a kingdom, as I shall next relate. 

XXIII. 

" There was a king of Spain, by name Alphonso, (x) 
Who on the Saracens made war at such a rate, 
In strength, stratagem, and bloody arms, he shone so. 
That he made many lose their lives, and the land vacate. 
Of the king the wondrous fame kept flying on so. 
To Caspian mountains from the Herculean strait. 
Many who in the war and victory had faith. 
Came to him, and ofiered their services till death. 

* Viriatus. See note on canto I. 



CAKTO III. 



XXIV. 



" And animated by ambition, love of fame, 
Zeal for the holy Faith, and people's weal. 
From various distant territories they came, 
Leaving their loved homes and hearths for love ideal. 
After, by exalted deeds, an excellent name 
They had gained in arms, with fidelity and zeal ; 
The famous Alphonso wished such valorous deeds 
To have due premium, gifts equal to their meeds. 

XXT. 

'^ Of these Count Henry, 'tis said, the second son 
Of a King of Hungary, had so much merit, 
Portugal became his, such as it was, unknown 
Then as illustrious or prized, so they could spare it. 
And that his love profound should be further shewn. 
The Castillian King resolved the Count should share it 
"With Teresa his daughter, whom he did therefore marry 
To the Count, who with her took the territory. 

XXYI. 

" This afterwards great victories achieving 
Against the descendants of the slave Agar, 
Many adjacent territories retrieviug. 
According to the great name he had gained in war ; 
In reward of these deeds renowned receiving. 
By favour of Grod supreme, ere long time there, 
A son who w^as born to illustrate the proud name 
Of the Lusitanian kingdom by warlike fame. 

XXYII. 

" Now Henry having at the conquest been 
Of the sacred city of Jerusalem, 
And the banks of the river Jordan having seen, 
That saw Grod's earthly body washed therein ; 
After all Judea had subjugated been. 
And no resistance to Grodfredo did remain, 
Many who had assisted him in the war, 
Eeturned to their own territories afar. 



64 THE LUSIAD. 

XXTIII. 

' "When arrived at the end of life assigned. 
The brave and warlike Hungarian renowned, 
Forced by inevitable necessity, resigned 
His sonl to Grod, his body to the ground. 
The son, a youth of tender age, was left: behind, 
In whom the father's great example found, 
A worthy follower equal to tlie bravest brave. 
But such father such a son may expect to have. 

XXIX. 

" But the old tradition, I know not if a vrrong one, 

For on such antiquity no one relies. 

States that the mother taking all the kingdom, 

A second matrimony did not despise. 

The orphan son disinherited and imdone, 

She left, saying the lordship of the land did arise 

In her alone of right, and this she must have. 

Because this her father to induce her to marry gave. 

XXX. 

" But the Prince Alphonso, so they called him there, 
Deriving from his grandfather the name. 
Seeing that of his territory he had no share, 
And that his mother and her husband ruled tlie same, 
"With fierce Mars glowing in his breast sincere, 
Soon determined in his mind his rights to claim ; 
Bevolving well, his measures did select, 
His firm piu-pose to carry into effect. 

XXXI. 

" The camp of Gruimaraes was quickly stained 
"With the blood paternal of intestine war, [tained 

"When the mother : Who could have thought it ? this main- 
Against her son, and refused the land to restore. 
In hostile posture encamped she was seen to stand ; 
Nor did the proud woman see that this was to err 
Against God, against the maternal obligation ; 
But, in her, the sensual knew no negation. 



CAKTO III. 65 



XXXII. 



" Oh Progne cruel ! Medea most severe ! 

If je npou your own children vengeance took 

For wrong by their fathers, or men who guilty were, 

Behold Teresa's sins more sinful look. 

Covetousness so base, incontinence so rare, 

Strange causes were why her offspring she forsook : 

Scylla her old father murdered for the one, 

She from both causes made war against her son. 

XXXIII. 

" But now the Prince by war's expedients 
Overcame the stepfather and guilty mother ; 
jS'ow the territory yields at once allegiance. 
And comes to his side which first stood on the other. 
But anger overcoming duty and obedience, 
In heavy irons he confined the mother : 
But God to avenge her was by no means slow : 
vSiich veneration to parents do we owe ! 

XXXIY. 

" The proud Castillian musters his forces strongs 

The injury of Teresa to avenge, 

'Grainst the Lusitanians, people not prone to wrong, 

Whom neither burdens tire, nor labours change. 

In cruel battle the human bosom long. 

Assisted by angelic power sustains, 

Not only the mad fury of the fight. 

But the most obdurate enemy puts to flight. 

XXXY. 

" Much time had not elapsed when the brave Prince 
In G-uimaraens found himself surrounded 
By powerful forces, sent there to convince 
Him that reparation was due to hearts so wounded. 
But as death then seemed inevitable, thence 
The faitliful Egas Amo was sent ; who founded 
His hopes in a different way to have shared. 
The perdition about which he very greatly erred. 



QQ THE LTJSTAD. 

XXXVI. 

^' But the loyal vassal being well aware, 

That his lord did not possess the means of defence, 

Went to the Castillian, and promised there 

That he would persuade him to yield obedience. 

The enemy thereupon withdrew elsewhere, 

In the promise of Egas Moniz placing confidence, 

But the illustrious youth to be subject to another 

Would not consent, whatever they might do there. 

XXXTII. 

" The time appointed having at length arrived, 
Eor which the Castillian King had stipulated, 
To see the Prince of authority deprived. 
And to his own superior rule submitted. 
Egas, seeing himself thus compromised, 
As the Castillian never anticipated, 
Determined with his sweet life to afford 
Amends for non-fulfilment of his word. 

XXXYIII. 

" And with his sons and wife he did set out 
With them the forfeited penalty to pay 5 
Barefooted and naked, a sight no doubt, 
More to move pity than vengeance, and thus did say : 
' If thou claimest, great King, the time being out, 
To avenge thyself of my bold confidence this day, 
Behold ! I stand before thee here, self-offered, 
To answer with my life for what I profi'ered, 

XXXIX. 

" 'Behold, I also bring the innocent lives 

Of sons quite sinless, and my loving wife ; 

If to generous and excellent breasts it gives 

Satisfaction to take away such feeble life. 

In me behold the delinquent tongue survives, 

And hands : let all sorts of torments, deaths, be rife, 

In these devised whatever way to kill us, 

By cruel Scinis, even to the bull of Perillus.' 



CANTO III. 67 

XL. 

" As before tlie executioner the condemned, 

"Who still in life, death only has in mind, 

Lays on the block his neck, all hope contemned, 

Awaits the dreaded blow, to death resigned ; 

So before the indignant Prince, Egas stood, nor claimed 

Clemency, nor any pity hoped to find : 

But the King, seeing such rare fidelity. 

Was not moved by anger then so much as pity. 

XLI. 

" Oh, great fidelity of the Portuguese, 
Of vassal who can himself to death expose ! 
What more did the Persian in that enterprise, 
In which he only cut off" ears and nose ? 
/Which did the great Darius so displease, 
I A thousand times with sighs, declaring he chose 
His own Zopyrus had been without mutilation, 
More than twenty Babylons to have taken.* 

XLII. 

" But now the Prince Alplionso fitted out and led 

The Lusitanian army joyfully 

Against the Moors, who the coiuitry inhabited. 

Which beyond fair Tagus lay delightfully : 

Now the Campo d'Ourique was occupied 

With the proud and warlike array, fine sight to see, 

Although in force and numbers so very small. 

In front of the Saracen inimical. 

XLIII. 

" Confident in no other power sustaining, 

Than that of the great God who rules Heaven alone; 

So small was the number of baptized in training, 

That there were full a hundred Moors to one. 

Any sober judgment no doubt entertaining 

That it was more what rashness than courage had done, 

To attack so numerous an assemblage where 

There was fully one hundred to one cavalier. 

* When Darius laid siege to Babylon, one of his lords, named 
Zopyrus, having- cut off his nose and ears, persuaded the enemy that 
he had received these indig-nities from the cruelty of his master. Being'- 
appointed to a chief command in Babylon, he betrayed the city to 
Darius. Vid. Justin. 



68 THE LITSIAD. 

XLIT. 

*' Five Moorisli kings are there as enemies, 

Whereof the principal is named Ismar ; 

All well experienced in the exercise, 

Perils, pursuit of illustrious fame, in war. 

Warrior dames their friends follow, brave and wise, (y) 

Imitating the fair and val'rous Lady ; ter, 

Who in the Trojan war so much assisted. 

And the Amazons who Thermodon's waters tasted.* 

XLV. 

" The early morning light, cold and serene, 
Had the bright stars from out the heavens cleared, 
When on the Cross the Son of Mary was seen. 
Encouraging Alphonso to whom he appeared. 
In adoration at the moment he had been. 
All glowing in faith, he cried, and was heard : 
' To the infidels, O Lord ! to the infidels go ; 
And not to me who thy power believe and know.' 

XLYI. 

" With such miracle, the minds of the Portuguese 
Arose inflamed with zeal for their natural King, 
This excellent Prince, who did well the people please ; 
Who to his service did love and fealty bring, 
And before the powerful army of enemies 
They cried aloud, making the heavens ring ; 
These words resounding ; 'Eoyal, Eoyal, Eoyal, 
AU hail Alphonso ! great King of Portugal.' 

XL VII. 

*' As when loud cries and furious shouts incite, 
In the mountain wild, against the bull the mastifl*, 
He rapidly the bull attacks, who seems to confide 
In the force and strength of his pointed horns stiff. 
Now the dog seizes the ear, and now the side, 
Barking less when holding firm than when shook off, 
Until at last, on grappling by the throat to choke. 
The brave animal's formidable strength is broke : 

* Thermodon, a river of Scythia in the country of the Amazons. 
Vid. Virg:.' JEn. 



ca:n'to rri. 69 



XLTIII. 



" So was the new King's pugnacity aroused, 
By God's sign and by the people's voice together, 
Tor the barbarons encounter aU being disposed, 
So the excited army would be at the other. 
Just then from the dogs their ' Alarido^ rose, 
The shouts resoimded ; to arms, the people gather : 
They take the lances and bows, the trumpets sound ; 
And the instruments of war all thunder round. 

XLIX. 

" Just as when the flame, which by setting fire 
To our arid fields (and whistKng Boreas tiu^ning 
Suddenly) and spreading where we least desire. 
Blows running fire, dry shrubs and bushes burning, 
The countryman, when the flames approach much nigher, 
Who was in sweet sleep, roused by the fiery warning — 
The roaring of the flames ; leaves flocks or tillage, 
Packs up his eff'ects, and flees into the village : 

L. 

" Even thus the Moor, astonished and disturbed, 
Takes rather carelessly his arms in a hiu-ry ; 
But not to fly, only to have his war-horse curbed. 
With hope and confidence to meet the fury. 
The Portuguese lances his sweet dream disturbed, 
Which the bold assailants in Moorish bosoms bury : 
Some fall half dead, and others are already gone, 
To assist a convocation of the Alcoran. 

LI. 

" There might be seen the temerary deed. 

To dislodge the others from the lofty height ; 

And the animals charging with fru-ious speed, 

Which Neptune first struck from earth with trident bright, 

Blows are given of frightful, inevitable need ; 

Everj-^here glows the flame of glorious fight : 

But the Lusian harness, cuirass, and mail. 

Break, cut, undo, bruise, batter, and prevail. 



•70 THE LXISIAD. 



LII. 

" Heads witliout bodies on the field are gaping, 
', Arms, legs, are seen without owner, and without life ; 
i And of others the entrails still palpitating, 
,' Where the colour is pallid, — gesture gone with strife. 
Now from the field the hateful army retreating, 
[Rivers of blood flow separate from life. 
Which make the very camp its colour lose. 
And over white, and green, crimson diffuse. 

LIII. 

^' Now the Lusitanian remains conqueror, 
Collecting the trophies, and rich spoils of war : 
Broken and put to flight the Spanish Moor : (z) 
Three days the great King encamped continues there. 
Here they paint in the proud shield which was white before, 
Which this victory certifies and still doth bear, 
'Five shields emblazoned, of celestial blue. 
In memory of these five Kings one did subdue, 

Liv. 

" And these five shields, the thirty pieces represent 
Of silver, for which our sacred Lord was sold ; 
Preserving remembrance in colours different. 
Of Him by whose favour they were so bold, 
In every one of the five, five more they paint, 
And thus the number complete of thirty is told ; 
Counting with five times five the five large blue. 
Which painted in the form of one cross we view. 

LV. 

" Now some time having elapsed, after they gained 

This victory decisive, the great King went 

To take Leiria, which object having attained, 

And finding but few of the conquered therein pent. 

The strong Arronches too subdued remained 

At the same time, and the ever excellent 

Scalubicastro,* whose dehghtful plain 

Is watered, fair Tagus ! by thy stream serene. 

* Santarem. 



CAFTO III, 71 

LVI. 

" To these noble towns surrendered we may join 

Mafra as well, in very little space ; 

A.nd on celebrated Lua's lofty spine 

Cold Cintra, the valorous arm did embrace : 

Cintra, where hidden Naiades recline 
fin fountains ever flying the tender lace, 
' Till love secures them softly in his snare, 
i In waters cool, lighting ardent flames even there. 

LVII. 

" And noble Lisbon ! thou who in the world's span 
Amongst others art a Princess all agree, 
"Who wert first founded by the eloquent man, 
Through whose deceit Dardania ceased to be : 
Though thou claimest obedience from old Ocean, 
The Portuguese forced obedience too from thee ; 
Assisted also by the strong armament, 
"Which from the Boreal parts of the world was sent, 

LVIIT. 

" Thither from the German Elbe, and from the Ehinej 

And from the cold Britannia taking their route. 

To destroy the falling power of the Saracen, 

Many with holy intentions had set out. 

And entering the mouth of the pleasant TaguS then, 

United with great Alphonso's army stout, 

Whose high renown was such as fame never misses, 

Which army then invested the walls of Ulysses. 

LIX. 

" Five times the moon from men her liglit did hide. 

And as many times she her full face had shewn, 

And through all that time the city did abide 

Close siege ; but now they entered and made it their own. 

The conflict was so sanguinary on each side. 

The work of firm resolution at length was shewn 

In victorious assailants, all things to dare, 

And in beaten enemies driven to despair. 



72 THE LUSIAD. 



LX. 

" In this manner taken, tlius surrender' d, 

That city which through many ages past 

Kever submitted to any hostile standard 

Of daring Scythian nursed in Boreal blast : 

Whose power at one time was so much extended, 

That the Ebro saw it, and Tagus all aghast ; 

And at last in the famous Betis their power became 

So vast that they gave to the land the Yandal's name. 

LXI. 

" Where is the city of strong resistance surer 
Than Lisbon is by her o^oi natural bounds. 
Which could resist that mighty force obdurate 
Of an army, whose great fame so far resonnds ? 
Now it has subdued all Estremadura, 
Obidos, Alemquer, where murmuring sounds 
Sweet water's noise mid pebbles — or is made as 
On rocks they fall ; and also Torres Yedras. 

LXII. 

" And also you, ye Transtaganian lands, 
Famed for the yellow gifts of golden Ceres, 
Submitted to forces in such powerful hands, 
Delivering over walls and what power there is : 
To thee, laborious Moor, no more of the lands. 
So fertile by cultivation, any share is ; 
As Elvas, and Moura, and Serpa, so well known. 
Also Alca^er do Sal from thee are gone. 

LXIII. 

" Behold the noble city ; hold secure 

In former times of Sertorius the rebel ; 

Evora, where still the shining waters pure 

Come a long Avay to sustain the land and people ; {a 2) 

By the royal arches, in hundreds, standing secure, 

Baised nobly in air ; work of a warrior able ; 

Now was subdued by means devoid of fear 

Of bold Griraldo, shewing what he could dare. 

* Andalucia. 



CAKTO III. '^3 



LXIV. 



" Now to the city of Beja, resolved by it 

To avenge the cruel destruction of Traneoso, 

Alfonso went (who knew not how to be quiet), 

T' extend with fame this short life ; when he coidd do so. 

This city not having means of defence to try it, 

Surrendered to him almost without a blow ; so 

The angry assailants too truly kept their word. 

Putting every one to the edge of the keen sword. 

e LXY. 

" With these were also Palmella taught to obey, 
And the piscatory Cezimbra, simultaneously, 
Being by his star assisted on that day, 
To beat an army extemporaneously. 
This the town felt, and the Lord of it saw at the fray. 
When coming to its succour instantaneously 
Along the mountain skirt, to the unprotected, 
They met the fierce encounter unexpected. 

LXVI. 

*"Twas the king of Badajoz, a lofty Moor, 

A body of spirited horse, four thousand strong. 

Numerous Peons, with arms and gold 'blazoned o'er, 

A well equipped illustrious warrior throng. 

But eager as brave buU hi month of May to gore, 

Having seen the cows alarmed, running along. 

The brutal and blind lover, fearless of danger, 

Furiously runs at the unguarded stranger. 

liXTII. 

" Just so Alphonso suddenly rushes on. 

Makes at the people, passing heedlessly : 

Wounds, kills, and furiously follows those who run, 

Porcing the Moorish king, careful of life, to flee. 

With sudden panic terrified every one, -: 

All the army could do was to follow rapidly ; 

The number of those creating the wild uproar 

Consisting of seventy horsemen and no more. 

E 



74 THE LrSIAD. 

LXYIII. 

" Thence forward victory followed steadily, 
The great king indefatigable, gathering 
rrom all parts of the kingdom, people readily, 
Whose habit was to go on, places conquering. 
To invest Badajoz he proceeds without delay. 
Accomplishing his design, of toil unsparing, 
"With such energy and skill the valorous feat, 
As to add it to places he had already beat. 

LXIX. 

'^'But the most high Grod, who sometimes long suspends 
The punishments He may to mankind owe ; 
Either that they may have time to make amends, 
. Or for secret reasons men can never know. 
If He until now the brave king well defends 
From the dangers into which he still would go, 
Now he found no defence from the malediction 
Of his mother who was prisoner in affliction. 

LXX. 

" For, while in the city he in triumph entered. 
It was, in turn, besieged by the Leonese, 
Because the conquest upon which he ventured 
Belonged to Leon, and not to the Portuguese. 
That obstinacy cost him dear, and it was censured, 
As has oftentimes been said, and the event agrees. 
That, by bruising limbs in irons, was engendered 
The battle, where he was conquered, and surrendered. 

LXXI. 

" shade of famous Pompey, no more complain 
Of ruin of thy illustrious memory ; 
Nor that the just JSTemesis should ordain. 
To thy father-in-law the glorious victory : 
Though on cold Phasis, and equally at Bjene, 
Where the shadow at noon on neither side we see, 
The frozen Bootes, and the burning line. 
Thy name over all was dreaded at the time. 



CA1S"T0 HI. 



LXXTI, 



7^ 



" Though the rich Arabia, and the ferocious 
Eniocans, and Colchians, whose fame above 
The golden fleece extends ; the Cappadocians ; 
And Judea, which one G-od adores, and loves ! 
And that the soft Sophenians, and the atrocious 
Cilicians, with Armenia, among whom roves 
The water of the two rivers, whose chief fountain 
Is in another higher, and holy mountain. 



LXXIII. 

" And although, in short, that from the Atlantic sea 

To the Scythian Taurus, mountain elevated, 

Saw thee a conqueror ; let it not trouble thee 

If the Emathian camp saw thee defeated : 

Eor thou shalt triumphant, proud, Alphonso see, 

Yielding up all, and himself subjugated. 

So it pleased the council, heavenly and sublime, 

That father-in-law should conquer thee, son-in-law him. 

LXXIT. 

" The king sublime returning, having been 

Chastised by the Judge Divine, and of power abridged, 

After having been in Santarem shut in, 

Proudly, but in vain, by the Saracens besieged : 

And after the holy body was brought in. 

Venerable saint Vincent, holy martyr, aged, 

Erom the promontory of his celebrity. 

To be inshrined in the TJlyssean city. 

LXXY, 

" That he might better forward his design, 
The worn-out father orders the strong son 
To cross to the Alemtejo, beyond the line 
Of the Tagus ; with an army to pass on : 
Sancho, with forces, and with spirit fine, 
Passed on accordingly ; made Gruadalquiver run, 
Vermilion through fair Seville, where its flood 
Carried back to sea the barbarous Moorish blood. 



^6 THE LrSIAD. 

LXXYI. 

" And by tMs victory made covetous of more, 
Now the youtli never rested until lie savi^ 
Another devastation, dreadful as before, 
In the barbarians who had besieged Beja. 
The fortunate Prince did not deliberate o'er 
His designs long, nor from his purpose wander far. 
The Moor being thus laid waste, founds his only hope 
In vengeance for such losses to have ample scope. 

LXXVII. 

" Now they gather from the mountain from which Medusa 

The body took that held the Heavens on his head : 

They come from the promontory of Ampelusa, 

And from Tingi, whose foundations Antaeus laid. 

Nor is th' inhabitant of Abyla excused there, 

Who also with his arms to move is made 

All to the sound of the Moorish tube, harsh toned. 

The whole of the kingdom that noble Juba owned. 

liXXVIII. 

" The Miralmuminin with this assemblage all, 
Comprising thirteen brave Moorish kings came on : 
Amongst whom he held the sceptre imperial, 
And thus doing all the mischief that could be done. 
In traversing the whole kingdom of Portugal. 
Destroying wherever they were allowed to run, 
Hesolved to besiege Dom Sancho in Santarem : 
But the result grievously disappointed them. 

liXXIX. 

" They give him battle sharply : the angry Moor, 

A thousand stratagems of warfare trying, 

Of no avail to him, the deep work cover' d o'er, 

The secret mine, the battering ram defying, 

The son of Alphonso losing nothing of his forces, nor 

G-enerous resolution ; which well applying. 

Providing with spirit, prudence, and good sense : 

In all parts resistance for a stout defence. 



CANTO III. 77 

LXXX, 

" But the noble sire, whose long laborious years 
At length had brought him to an age of quiet : 
Being in that city, whose sweet plain appears 
Verdant from Mondego's waters flowing by it 5 
As soon as tidings of the siege he hears, 
Of his son in Santarem ; that the Moor would try it, 
He set out with all diligence from the city, 
Not losing with age his quickness and agility. , 

XXXXI. 

" And witli his famous force to warfare used, 

To the son's succour goes, and thus together, 

The fury of the Portuguese disabused, 

The Moors, who were vanquish' d by the son and father. 

The field is their' s, and everywhere is strew' d 

With marlottes, cloaks of all colours blent together. 

While horses, housings, saddles, rich prizes yield ; 

Their owners dead lying thickly on the field. 

XXXXII. 

"From Lusitania thereupon departed. 
The residue, except the Mirahnumiuin, 
Who did not set out when all the rest had started, 
Because before he could fly, life had fled from him. 
Praise Grod for victory vouchsafed to men true-hearted ! 
And thanks without measure be ever offered Him ! 
Por in such strange cases it is very plain, 
i^ore strength is in Grod's favour than in men. 

LXXXIII. 

" The aged Alphonso had been long victorious, 
A mighty Prince who triumph' d oft ; by whom 
All he encounter' d were beat in actions glorious, 
Was himself at length by old age overcome. 
The cold hand of pale disease was now victorious 
(Over the frail body descending to the tomb ;' "^^^ 
f^njiie_paid_ai length the penalty of years " 
?^Tojmournful Libitina, with a people's tears. 



78 THE LUSIAI?. 

LXXXIV. 

"jThe lofty promontories the loss lament ; 
\A.nd the salubrious waters in sad tunes 

O'erflow the cultivated fields, and sent 
^, Forth pious tears into the broad lagoons. 

^ut much as the world over its whole extent 

The fame of his valorous emprizes owns ; 

Throughout his own kingdom ever and again, 

Alphonso ! Alphonso ! echoed ; but in vain. 

LXXXY. 

" ^ancho, brave youth, who to the people remained, 

His father in achievements imitating. 

And who in his life experience had gained. 

When he o'ercame the barbarous power ; defeating, 

(When Betis with the Moorish blood was stained;) 

In Andalusia ; its Ishmaelitish king : 

And more when those who Beja in vain siu^rounded, 

By the blow of his own arm were confounded. 

Lxxxvr. 

" A few years after he did as king ascend 

The throne to which he had been elevated, 

He besieged Sylves, — a city the Moors retained, 

Whose rich fields the barbarian cultivated. 

In this he the valiant assistance gained i ^} 

Of the German armament, who winds awaited, 

In arms strong, enlightened people on their way ; a 

Torce assembled to recover lost Judsea. 

LXXXVII. 

" They passed the holy enterprise to commence 

Of the red Frederick, who at that time moved 

The powerful army forward in defence 

Of the city where Christ sufiered for those he loved ; 

When Guido, with his people, from thirst intense 

To the grand Saladin had captives proved 

In the place, where water to the Moors abounded. 

And Guido's force had none when by them surrounded. 



CAl^TO III, 79 



LXXXVIII, 



" But the formidable armament, which came 
Induced by adverse winds to put in there, 
Sancho desired to assist in a war, the same, 
In its purpose, as the Holy "War elsewhere : 
Thus, as his father would sometimes Lisbon name^ 
And tell him how he took it, so Dom Sancho here, 
Takes with the Grermans' assistance Sylves' towers, 
And brave dwellers therein, destroys, and overpowers. 

LXXXIX, 

" N'or, if Mahometan trophies not a few 

He goes forward gathering ; did he less in wars 

"With the brave Leonese, where these were due 

To those so accustomed to the affairs of Mars, 

Until his yoke over the lofty head he threw 

Or proud Tuy ; which in such kindred jars 

Saw placed upon many neighbour towns that stumbled, 

"Which by tliy arms, Sancho ! were also humbled, 

X c. 



^'jBut, over so many laurels, the dark pall 
LJpf death being drawn ; the heir inheriting 
A son of his, and highly esteemed by all, 
Became Alphonso the second, and the third king, 
In whose reign the town of Alcager do Sal, 
A-Vas from the Moors taken for the last time, 
Tor it formerly was taken by the Moor ; 
But now destroyed, he paid for it the more. 

xci. 

" After Alphonso' s death, he was succeeded 
By Sancho the second, a quiet sovereign ; 
Who in his carelessness was so unheeded. 
That others, he should have governed, did him govern. 
To rule the kingdom then, another was needed ; 
In the cause of favourites only he was stubborn. 
And since it was through them alone he reigned, 
Their rule and all their vices he maintained. 



80 THE LTJSIAD. 



XCII. 



" Sancho was not so bad as Nero, who disgraced 
Humanity by vicious crimes committed, 
And afterwards by the horrible incest 
"With his mother Agrippina perpetrated ; 
'Nor, by cruelty, were his people so distrest, 
Nor by the burning of a city so ill-fated, 
Nor was he so bad as Heliogabalus ; 
Nor at all like the easy Sardanapalus ; 

XCIII. 

'* Nor were his people so tyrannized over, 

As was Sicily under her tyrants petty ; 

Nor did he ever like Phalaris discover 

Of human torments any new variety. 

But the proud kingdom having been accustom' d ever 

To lords who ruled with sovereign dignity, 

Neither obeyed the king, nor were content 

That he^ should not be more than people excellent. 

XCIY-, 

*' Eor such reasons the Count Bolonhez governed 
The kingdom, and who was afterwards no less 
Than king, when from this life to dust returned 
His brother Sancho, ever prone to idleness. 
This, whose name of Alphonso the Brave was earned,. 
By having restored the kingdom's old success. 
Studied to extend its bounds, for what he possessed 
Was small, to contain the proud and valiant breast. 

XCY. 

" Of the land of the Algarves, which had been given 
To him as a marriage portion, greater part 
He recovered by strength of arm, and had driven 
Out of it the Moor, no longer liked by Mars. 
Delivering the whole country, for which he had striven, 
Making Lusitania mistress by warlike art ; 
And ended the oppression of that nation strong 
In land which to Lusian people doth belong. 



CANTO III, 



81 



XCVI. 

" Behold Dionis come next, so well securing 
Of brave Alphonso the noble and worthy race, 
The great fame whereof m.ay be so long enduring 
As that of Alexander to efface : 
With this the kingdom's prosperity ensuring, 
(Having the gift divine obtained of golden peace) 
In constitution, laws, and civilization : 
In the land now tranquil, also education, 

XCTII. 

" He first, in Coimbra, to exercise began 
The valorous office of Minerva sage ; 
And made the Muses leave their Helicon, 
To tread Mondego's fertile pasturage. 
"Whate'er they might in Athens call their own 
Glorious Apollo has here reserved to engage 
The Muses all : here golden threads entwine 
The BacchariSj* and in verdant laurels shine« 

XCYIII. 

'^ Noble towns he built anew, or elevated, 
Fortifications and castles strengthened all ; 
And almost the whole kingdom renovated 
With sumptuous edifice or lofty wall :t 
,But after lasting, Atropos separated 
L.The thread of his days when ripe, and strength was small. 
There remained the son little willing to go on so, 
But still the great and excellent fourth Alphonso. 

X€IX. 

" He always the proud Castillian despised, 
With firm, serene, and most undaunted breast, 
Because 'tis not in Lusian forces though small sized 
To dread a larger power, with that which is least. 
But yet when the Moorish people still aspired 
To take the Hesperian land which they possessed, 
And entered on the territory of Castillo, 
Proud Alphonso went to their succour with good will. 

* Baccaris, or Lady's-^love, an herb to which the Druids and 
ancient poets ascribe magical virtues. — 3Iickle. 

t At Sabug-al, where the action of 3rd April was foug-ht with Mas- 
sena's rear-guard, on my inq[uiring about the bridge and who built it, 

E 2 



82 THE LTJSIAD. 



*' Never under Semiramls did assemble 

So many on the far Hydaspian plains ; 

JS'or did Attila, who made all Italy tremble. 

Calling himself " scourge of Grod," with kings in chains, 

Bring so many Goths, though t'o'errun Europe ample : 

As that the stupendous barbarous Saracens 

Had in Tartessian encampments joined 

With the excessive power of Glranada combined* 

CI. 

" And the sublime Castillian king perceiving 
The powerful and invincible force assembling, 
Eearing more the Moors their loss of Spain retrieving, 
Once already theirs, than his own death, undissembling, 
To seek aid from the brave Lusitanian, grieving, 
He therefore sent his most dear consort, trembling C V)^ 
"Wife of him Avho sent, and loved daughter of the king 
Of the kingdom, whence she hoped some aid to bring. 

CII. 

" So entered the most beautiful Maria 

To the paternal palace and court sublime, 

G-raceful her mien, but far from gay, and one might spy a 

Tear in her eyes which made them more brightly shine : 

Th' angelic tresses all dishevelled lie a- 

Pown the neck scattered o'er shoulders eburnine : 

Before the glad sire, who graciously kissed her brow, 

Whilst withherfasttearsthesewordsfell mournful and slow : 

cm. 

" * Erom whatever villages their land contains 

Through the whole of Africa, people wild and strange, 

The great king of Morocco these people drains, 

That they may come and take possession of noble Spain. 

Such power as they have called together on our plains 

Has never been seen since shores the sea restrain. 

They bring ferocity, and such terror spread, 

As to frighten the living, and almost disturb the dead. 

a peasant repeated these lines, — " Yo El Rey Dom Dioniz 

Ponte, Castello e Fonte fiz ;" 
as an old distich of the country people. — T. L, M. 



ca2n"to III. 8S 



CIV. 



" ' He whom thou hast given me for a husband, 
Doubtful of the defence his country can afford, 
"With very small force is now obliged to stand 
Exposed to the hard blow of the Moorish sword. 
And if not succoured by thy powerful hand, 
Thou hast to see me lose both kingdom and lord ; 
A widow ; — in grief ; and doomed to a life austere, 
"Without spouse, without kingdom, and without career. 

cv. 

*' '^Therefore, King, at terror of whose name 

The flowing Muluca shall stagnate and congeal, 

Break off all delay ; haste without loss of time 

To the unhappy people of Castillo. 

If this kindness and joy to see me I may claim, 

Of thy true paternal love ; afl&x the seal, 

Assist, and haste, father ; unless thou dost run. 

Possibly those thou wouldst succour may be undone,' 

CVI. 

" 'Noi differently, the timid Mary addrest 
Her father thus, than the sorrowful Venus, when 
To her father Jupiter she preferr'd her request, 
In behalf of Eneas her son, upon the main ; 
In which the Thunderer felt so much interest, 
That out of his hands the thunderbolt fell then, 
Everything was by the clement father granted, 
Regretting it was so little that she wanted. 

cvii, 

" Already with squadrons of the armed forces 
The fields of Evora are gay, and warlike sound, ' 
The loud neighing richly caparisoned horses ; 
Harness, lances and swords, glitter in the sun around. 
The emblazoned trumpet tuneful sounds the courses. 
Until hearts, accustomed to peace, with fire abound. 
The hostile calls to brilliant arms inciting, 
And from surrounding rocks reverberating. 



84 THE LrSIAD. 

GYIII. 

" In tlie midst of all the royal ensigns fly, 
Accompanying the elevated crest 
Of valorous Alphonso, who on high 
Carries his head exalted above the rest : 
And by his bearing alone conrage doth supply, 
And animates each heart by his high behest : 
And thus he enters the territory of Castille ; 
"With his lovely daughter, Queen thereof as well. 

cix. 

" The two Alphonsos unite, their forces double. 

On Tarifa's plains, encamping right in front 

Of the grand multitude of the blind people, 

"Who find the whole so little, both plain and mount. 

'No breast so elevated or so able, 

Who by want of confidence would so much affront 

As not to admit, and see as clear as light, 

That with the arm of his own people Christ doth fight. 

ex. 

" The descendants of Hagar, scornfully deriding 

As frail, and small, the power the Christians bring ; 

The territory, as if their own, dividing 

Beforehand amongst the army Hagarene ; 

As with false title their own base origin hiding 

They took the famous name of Saracen ; 

So with a false, naked, tale, they divide in shares, 

The noble country of others, calling it theirs. 

CXI. 

" As the brawny-limbed, and barbarous giant. 

Sent to king Saul, and much mth good reason feared. 

Seeing the shepherd before him unarmed, him defying, 

Although with nought but stones and courage prepared ; 

W^ith haughty words, arrogantly decrying. 

The badly dressed, frail youth ; and laughing stared ; 

"Was undeceived by the twirl of a sling, at length. 

As to how much more faith can do than human strength. 



ca:n"to III. 85 

CXII. 

" So in like manner tlie perfidious Moor despises 
The miglity power of tlie Christians, nor is hindered, 
Because it was strengthened by those enterprises, 
To which they their hellish fortress had surrendered : 
With that the Castillian dexterously devises 
T' attack the King of Morocco, and offended : 
The Lusitanian, esteeming as nothing these, 
Made the kingdom of Granada fear the Portuguese, 

CXTII. 

" Their lances and their swords these at hand retained 

Above their armour, ready for the grim onset ; 

On either side (as to different laws they bend). 

Some call on Saint lago, others on Mahomet. 

Erom both sides the wounded their cries to heaven send, 

With their blood forming a boisterous rivulet ; 

In which others, only half dead were drowned. 

After their lives had escaped the iron wound. 

CXIY. 

" "With such resolution they destroy and kill 

The Portuguese, the Grranadian, that in short space, 

No more avail defences, or breast of steel. 

So total was the destruction of the place. 

T' achieve such victory so cheaply, and at will. 

Did not quite content the strong arm and iron mace, 

Groing to the brave Castillian' s assistance, 

Against the Moor making a stout resistance. 

CXY. 

" Now sunk the ardent sun to his place of rest . 

In Thetis' mansions, and also declining 

Along with him went Yesper to the west, 

Thus was defined the end of that bright day's shining : 

When the power of the Moor, a formidable pest, 

Was destroyed completely by the brave Kings combining, 

With such great slaughter, that the memory 

Affords no record of so great a victory. 



86 THE LrSIAD. 



CXYI. 



*' Brave Marius did not kill one-fourtli so many, 
As those who died in this great overthrow, 
When the waters mixed with the blood of the adversary 
Were drank by the army of those who made it flow, {d 2) 
Kor did Hannibal, most severe and contrary 
To the Eomans and their power, and born to be so, 
When so many of illnstrions Some he killed, 
That the gold-rings of the dead Knights three bushels 
filled, 

CXVIT. 

*' And if thou alone so many souls couldst send 
To the obscure kingdom of the Cocytus, 
When, destroying the holy city, thou didst lend 
Thy hand to punish its people and affright us ; 
The permission and the vengeance Heaven did send, 
'Twas not the mere strength of arm, O noble Titus ; 
Eor by the Fates that was prophesied long before, 
And by Jesus afterwards certified still more, 

CXVIII. 

^* After having gained so prosperous a victory, 

Alphonso returning to Portugal to restore, 

And enjoy the peace achieved with so much glory, 

As he had known how to gain in rugged war ; 

O unhappy case, and worthy of memory, 

That from the sepulchre should disinter, 

Her who only misery and wretchedness had seen, 

But who after being dead was crowned Queen. 

cxix. 

'" Thou alone, thou pure Love, with ardour cruel, 
Which human hearts so much to suffer obliges, 
Didst cause this sad death of one who never knew ill, 
As if she had been an enemy perfidious. 
They say, cruel love, that thy hot thirst to do ill 
No flood of the most sorrowful tears assuages, 
And that thy aim, fell tyrant, is understood, 
jTo be to bathe thy altars in human blood. 



CAI^TO III. 87 



cxx. 



"Thou wert, lovely Ignez, placed in soft repose, (e 2) 

Of thy years gathering sweet fruit the flowers among ; 
j In that blind delirium of soul, all joy, no woes, 

?WTiich fortune seldom suffers to continue long ; 
, In the wholesome fields, among which Mondego flows, 
I From thy beauteous eyes ne'er dry, as wandering among 

The gentle hills ; to them, and wild flowers revealing, 
) The name written in thy breast, from all else concealing. 



CXXI. 

"Of thy Prince afar unto thee still did glide 
The remembrances that dwelt within his heart ; 
"Which ever to his eyes thy form supplied. 
As when from thine own so bright he last did part ; 
By night in charming dreams that ever lied, 
By day in thoughts that flying joined those apart ; 
And whatever he thought by day or dreamt by night, 
r All, all, were only remembrances of delight. 

CXXII, 

_Jf Of other beautiful Senhoras, and Princesses, 
The contemplated nuptials he rejects ; 
All such, in short, as thou pure love, despisest. 
When fair form or pleasant gesture thee subjects. 
This amorous extravagance distresses 
The old father, grave and serious, who respects 
The murmurs of the people, and the fantasy 
Of the son, who married refused to be. 

CXXIII. 

" To take Ignez from the world he did design, 
That he might from her take the son she held so bound ; 
.- Beheving with the mere blood of death indign, 
• To kill the burning flame of true love's wound ! 
What phrensy consented, that the sword so fine, 
That could withstand, and heavy enough was found 
Por the Moorish fury, men should elevate 
Against a dame so frail and delicate ? 



88 THE LIT S IAD. 

CXXIV. 

*' They bring lier, tlie homble algozes 

Before the King, now moved to compassion ; 

But tlie people wild, with false and ferocious 

Beasons, for cruel death, attempt persuasion. 

She with mournful voice and true devotion, 

Prom distress alone, at being the occasion 

Of sorrow to her Prince, and sons she was to leave, 

The loss of whom more than her own death did her grieve, 

GXXT. 

*' [Lifting on high towards the crystal heaven, 

/ Amid her tears her pious streaming eyes ; 

\ The eyes, because the hands were calmly given 

\ To the remorseless executioner's ties: 
Then down upon the children from her riven, 
So lovely and delicate, affection's prize, 
"Whose orphan state the mother with fear distrest, 
To their cruel grandfather she these words addrest. 

€XXVI. 

,:^^'/' If amongst wild beasts, whose sanguinary taste 
Nature made cruel from their very birth ; 
And if in the birds of prey, whose eager haste 
In pursuit of aerial rapine takes them forth ; 
When they have seen little children helpless cast, 
Have been moved by sentiments of pity, not by wrath. 
Such as to the mother of ISTinus once were shown, 
And to the brothers who first erected Eomo. 

CXXYII. 

" ' O thou who bear'st the human gesture, and breast, 
(If human it be to kill a feeble dame 
Weak, and helpless, for holding subject, as was best. 
Her heart for him, who knew how to conquer the same,) 
In these holpless children take some interest, 
Since her own death obscure no pity can claim ; 
Let thy pity, and mine for these, move thee alone, 
Since thou canst not blame attach to those who had none. 



CANTO III. 89 



GXXYIII. 



" ' And if wlien conquering in the Moorish strife 
Death thou knowest how to deal the Moors among ; 
Know also when with clemence to give life 
To one who has to forfeit it done no wrong : 
But if innocence do not deserve the knife, 
Place me in miserable banishment as long 
As life, in Lybia's heat, or Scythia's snow, 
Where I may live in tears that must ever flow. 

CXXIX. 

" ' Place me where is practised all the ferocity, 
Known amongst lions and tigers, that I may see 
If there amongst these I may not meet the pity 
Which amongst human breasts is not felt for me. 
There with intrinsic love, and piety. 
Towards him for whom I die, I still could be 
With these his reliques whom thou seest here, 
Which should be a solace to their sad mother there.' 

cxxx. 

" The King benign to pardon her was inclined. 
Moved by the tender words that touched his heart ; 
But her destiny, and the obstinate public mind, 
Whose resolve was death, from this would not depart. 
But out they drew their swords of steel so fine, 
Those who there advocated such a part. 
O sanguinary breasts ! against a dame in tears. 
Savages ye shewed yourselves, and cavaliers ? (/ 2) 

OXXXT. 

" As against Polyxena — the beauteous maid, 
Sole consolation of her mother's years. 
Because condemned to die by Achilles' shade, 
The rugged Pyrrhus the dire steel prepares : 
But she, whilst with serenest air she obeyed, 
(Just as patient quiet lamb such treatment bears) 
On her distracted mother fixed her eyes, 
And calmly yielded to the sacrifice. 



90 THE LUSIAD. 

CXXXII. 

"So against Ignez the brutal murderers rude, 
In tlie alabaster column, whicli sustained 
The works with wMcIl Love with many loves subdued 
Him who afterwards made her his Queen and reigned, 
Bathing their swords, and the white flowers in blood. 
On which from her sad eyes, the tears had rained, 
Eelentlessly cruel, fervid, on murder bent, 
And quite regardless of future punishment. 

CXXXIII. 

'' 'Well might' st thou, Sun, from such a scene as this. 

Have withdrawn thy rays from shining at such a feat, 

As from the cruel repast of Thyestes, 

When his own children fr^om Atreus' hand he eat,' 

Aaid ye, concave valleys, ye heard this ; 

Her voice in extremity through cold lips repeat. 

The name of her Pedro which reached your stony ear, 

Erom whence your echoes long repeated were. 

CXXXIY. 

" Just as the lily, which has been cut down 
Before its time, so pure, and white, and fair, 
When crushed by wanton hands, aside is thrown, 
By thoughtless girl, who wore it in her hair, 
Lost the sweet perfume, and the fair colour gone ; 
Even so did the pallid damsel in death appear, 
Eaded the roses, and with sweet hfe sped 
The fair bright bloom, which rests not with the dead. 

cxxxv. 

" Mondego's river-nymphs the death obscure 

Long mourned, weeping, Ignez' hapless fate ; 

And into tears transformed a fountain pure 

Their grief for ever to commemorate : 

A name they gave it, which doth still endure, 

Where oft mid fleeting hours of love she sate. 

See wliat fresh fountain nrigates the flowers. 

The Tount of Tears' where love once filled the bowers. 




EO^TE ©AS ILAG1S.MIAS 



xLoxa-e Ike p-azexauL, que io-ia iura, 
Das anLOxes de Igrtez, gaie aHi jjaisaram.. 
Yede qp.t fresca fonte jrega as flores-. 
Oue lag riTT i as sao a agua , e o norae aiaoTes 



Staima CTXXV. 



ca:n"To III. 91 



CXXXYI. 



" Mucli time did not elapse ere Peter could see 

Vengeance wreaked upon tlie fugitive homicides, 

"VYhicli on assuming tlie government of the kingdom he 

Took speedily upon their guilty heads : 

From the other Peter cruel they could not flee ; 

Soon were they punished for their bloody deeds, 

Under a compact as cruel, and unjust, as 

With Lepidus and Anthony, made Augustus, {h 2) 

CXXXTII. 

" This, was the castigator vigorous and severe 

Of robberies, murders, and adulteries : 

And punishment of these in crudities wild, and rare, 

Were in his hands the most sure reformatories, 

G-uarding the cities with judicious care 

From proud vituperative functionaries, 

But to punish thieves with death to him came easy as 

To the wandering Alcides, or to Theseus. 

CXXXVIII. 

" But from just and stern Peter was born the bland, 
(And here see nature's inconsistency) 
Negligent, and most of all thoughtless Ferdinand, 
WTio the whole kingdom placed in greatest jeopardy ; 
Who seeing the Castillian devastate the land 
Without defence or forces, had very nigh 
Destroyed the kingdom totally ; and, truth to speak, 
So a weak King makes a strong people weak. 

CXXXIX. 

" Or was deserved punishment for the sin 

Of taking Leonora from her spouse, {i 2) 

And marrying her out of admiration, in 

A false opinion of mistaken vows ; 

Or 'twas that the captive heart still given within, 

To hopeless vice could not itself arouse. 

But grew soft and weak ; allo^ving all to go wrong, 

Asa low amour debilitates the strong. 



92 THE LUSIAD. 



CXL. 



"For tMs sin many ever have been punished, 
By the will of God, and by his supreme command ; 
As were those who went and beauteous Helen ravished 
And as Tarquin saw what Apius could demand ; 
Then by whom was holy David so admonished ?* 
Or who destroyed the tribe and wasted the land 
Of Benjamin ?t Most clearly 'twas to teach 'em, 
Like Pharaoh for Sarah, and for Dinah Shechem. 

CXLI, 

.*^How much a rash and incontinent amour 
■ W eakens the energy of the strongest mind ; 
How much it appeared Alcmena's son to lower, 
Who to Omphale transformed, could spin and* wind ! 
Mark Anthony his fame did much obscure 
When he to Cleopa^tra his heart resigned, 
And thou too, great Hannibal, in love couldst be, 
AYhen a fine girl in Apulia thou didst see ! 

CXLII. 

" But who can free and quite unscathed go 
From the snares that Love still softly is preparing 
Amongst the roses, and the pure human snow, 
The gold and the alabaster quite transparent ? 
Who from a transcendent beauty ever was so, 
Whose visage fair Medusa might have rather meant, 
HaviDg power to transform the heart, not into stone, 
But into keen desh^e, won first and then undone ? 

CXLIII. 

" Who has seen a glance secure, a gesture bland, 

A soft and mild angelic excellence. 

Which into itself souls ever is turning, and 

Against it always could maintain resistance ? 

Exculpated assuredly is Ferdinand, 

By all who of Love have had experience : 

But who when their fantasies may have been free, 

Had much more culpable held him to be. 

• 2 Samuel, chap. iil. t Judg-es, chap. xix. and xx. 



4^'" 



CANTO IV. 



" ArTEE a storm's tempestuous agitation, 
Clouds dark as night, with much wild hissing wind, 
The morning's clear serenity brings salvation, 
Again the wished-for port we hope to find : 
The sun separates the black obscuration, 
Eemoving the dread awe from off the mind, 
So in the brave kingdom it did betide. 
Immediately after King Fernando died. 

II. 

" Because if many of us could have desired 
Those who should avenge the injuries, and offences, 
On such as had to so much themselves aspired 
Of Ferdinand's neglect ; the consequences, 
After short time they attained all they requii'ed, 
John, ever illustrious to relieve distress, 
For King, as being of Peter the only heir, 
(Although a bastard) veritable and clear. 

III. 

*' That this was by the Heavens' divine ordained, 

"Was by a very obvious sign proclaimed. 

When in Evora by the voice of a child not weaned, 

Speaking before its time, the King was named : 

And as a matter Heaven destined and explained. 

In the cradle the babe rose, and then exclaimed : 

" Portugal, Portugal," raising its little hand : 

Saying, " Dom John is now to be King of the land." (k2) 



94 TEE LIJSIAD. 



lY. 



" So altered tlien the people had become, 
With the disgust that filled the public mind, 
Absolute cruelties, so evident, to some, 
E-aised the people's fury, to vengeance much inclined. 
Murdering friends of the adulterous Count, with whom 
The Queen's shameful incontinence and passion blind 
Had for some time been very generally guessed, 
Eut on her widowhood, became manifest. 



" But he, at leng-th, for such dishonoured cause. 

Before her in cold blood was put to death ; 

Accompanied by many others, whose blood flows, 

In midst of raging flame, and parting breath, 

When hke Astyanax, a bishop from the high turret goes 

Thrown, (all orders unavaihng) far beneath : 

By those reckless of orders, altars, or high places : 

Cast naked in the streets, and dashed to pieces. (I 2) 

YI. 

** Well may they place in long oblivion 

The mortal cruelties, that Borne beheld, 

The work of ferocious Marius, nor think on 

The cruel Sylla when the other left the field. 

For this Leonora, whose passion for (or haison 

With) the dead Count to the world was revealed. 

Made Castille come forth against Lusitane, 

Saying her daughter was heiress, and should remain. . ,v 

YII. 

" Beatrice was the daughter, and consorted 

To the Castillian, whose aid was needed, ^ 

Being daughter of Ferdinand, as was reported, 

If questionable fame this much conceded. 

AYith this voice Castille the claim supported. 

Saying, this daughter to the father succeeded, 

They join their forces for the wars in bands 

!From various regions, and out of different lands. 



CAI^^TO IT. 95 



YIII. 



*' They came from all tlie province, named after Erigo, 
And whence the name it bore (then), was derived 
From lands of which Ferdinand, and of which Eodrigo, 
Had the tyrannic Moorish state deprived. 
"With little dread of arms to the field does he go 
Who has been accustomed the rough plough to drive 
Through the plains of Leon ; whose swains when sent 
Against the Moors were in arms excellent. 

IX. 

*' The Vandals, their ancient valour again to shew, 
Being still confident, unite together 
From the upper parts of Andalucia go, 
Wherever watered by the Gruadalquiver. 
The noble Ilha to appear there was not slow, 
AVhere anciently the Tyrians fruit did gather, 
Bearing on their banners the insignia true, 
The pillars of Hercules as columns two.* 

s. 

*' They also come from the kingdom of Toledo, 
A noble and ancient city, round which flowing 
In sweeping turns, the soft and joyous Tagus, 
Comes from the Sierra de Concha ever snowing. 
Nor will fear deter ye, ! sordid Gallegos, 
A sturdy band, from willingly to battle going, 
That ye may resist, ye put your arms on. 
Against those whose blows ye have already known. 

XI. 

" Also moved to the war, by the furies dark, 
The people Biscay enne, who little cherish 
Polished arguments, and who as all remark 
Put up very badly v^dth strangers' injuries, 
Where also noble iron mines they work. 
The land of Gruipuzcoa, and the Asturias, 
They armed their superb matadores with swords, 
That, in the war, they might assist their lords. 

* Isla de Leon. Cadiz. 



96 THE LTJSIAD. 



XII. 



" John, in whom tlie strengtli of mind increased, 
As in Hebrew Samson with the growth of hair, 
Althongh the whole together still appeared the least, 
"With this least of a kingdom did still prepare : 
And not becanse he wanted of connsel the best, 
Did he assemble the principal Senhors there ; 
But only to know what might be people's minds. 
Because amongst many, are many different kinds. 

XIII. 

" There wanted not arguments to disconcert 

The general opinion, the general call, 

By which the ancient strength they would convert 

Into unusual sentiment disloyal. 

Moved more by fear, withered, frozen, and inert, 

Than by the proper fidelity natm-al : 

They deny the king, and the country, and would deny. 

Like Peter, if it did but suit them, Grod on high. 

XIY. 

" But it never happened that this was a faihng 
In the brave Dom Nun' Alvares : on action bent, 
Although with his brothers he was seen bewaihng 
And reproving them as wayward and inconstant ; 
These dubious gentry he harangued, assailing 
Their weakness with words more strong than elegant, 
With hand on his angry sword, he at them hurled 
His rough words, menacing the earth, the sea, and the 
world. 

XV. 

" What ! in the illustrious people Portuguese, 

Sliall there be any refase themselves to Mars ? 

"What ! of this province, once Princess with war to please 

All people who needed its aid in other parts, 

Can there be one who about our defence disagrees ? 

"Who denies the faith, the love, the strength, the arts. 

Of the Portuguese ? And who, whether for evil or good. 

Would wish to see this proper kingdom subdued ? 



CAKTO IT. 97 

XYI. 

'' What ? Are ye not the descendants still of those, 
Who under the banners of great Henry fought,*- 
Who bravely then, and valiantly did oppose 
And conquer this people of whom so much is thought ? 
Of whom so many banners, and so many foes 
Te put to flight, or back as prisoners brought. 
Including seven of their illustrious Counts, 
With the spoils they bore of various amounts. 

XTIT. 

" With w^hom before were these to reason brought. 
These who seem so much now to alarm you ? 
By Dionis, and his son renowned, who fought 
Beside your brave fathers, and grandfathers true, 
And if Ferdinand by his neglect, or want of thought. 
Or by his sins, has brought you to such state ; renew 
And unite your forces under the new Bang, 
If it be certain that to him the people cling. 

XVTIT. 

" Te have a King, such, that if ye had the mind 
Equal to the King whom now ye have elevated, 
Te may defeat as many as ye can find, 
As well as all ye already have defeated. 
And if with this in short ye are not inclined, 
To drop the penetrating terror now created. 
Tie your hands to your vain fear of dangers. 
Whilst I resist alone the yoke of strangers. 

XIX. 

*' I alone with my vassals, and with this in hand, 

(And saying this I here draw forth my sword), 

I will defend by offensive force, this land. 

Never yet subjugated by foreign horde : 

In the name of the King, of this suffering country, and 

Of the loyalty now by you ignored, 

I shall overcome, not only these well-known foes, 

But as many besides as may my King oppose. 

* Battle of Val de vez, at a place called afterwards Cavipo de Matanza. 



98 THE LrSIAD. 



XX. 



" Even as amongst the yonng men got together 

In Canusium, of Cannse the sole remains, 

When it was agitated among them whether 

They should yield to the army of the Africains ; 

The youth Cornelius persuaded them, rather 

To swear by his sword never to wear such chains, 

Never to forsake the E-oman arms nor fly. 

While life left them not, and with their arms to die.* 

XXI. 

" Even so, Nunez encourages and enforces 
The people, who hearing his last argument, 
Abandon their cold fear for new resources. 
And open their frozen hearts to the full extent : 
They mouut Neptune's own animals, their horses, 
Bounding, leaping, and galloping they went ; 
At full speed, loudly shouting — ' The King for ever ;' 
* Long live the famous King, who shall us deliver.' 

XXII. 

" Of the people in general some approve 
The war by which the country might be sustained : 
Some clean or scour their arms, and some remove 
The rust of peace with which they were too much stained: 
Helmets they stuff, breasts and breast-plates they prove, 
Each arms himself with whatever to him remained ; 
Others make vestments of a thousand colours, over 
Which they wore letters and tokens of the lover, 

XXIII. 

" With all this splendid company sallied out, 
John the brave from the ever fresh Abrantes ; 
Abrantes, w^ich enjoys also the cool fount 
Of Tagus, in whose abundant stream no want is. 
He drilled the first in arms, and made them mount, 
Who could have exercised armies where no scant is. 
Like those powerful eastern armies beyond count, 
With which Kiug Xerxes passed the Hellespont. 

♦ Yid. Liv. B. 22. c. 53. 



ca:e^to IV, yt 

XXIY. 

" Dom 'Nimo Alvares is whom I mean, the true 
Scourge of the proud and most superb Castillians, 
As already the brave Hun had been unto 
The Prench, and still more unto the Italians.'* 
There was another famous Cavalier much could do, 
Who had the right wing of the Lusitanians, 
Apt to command them, or drill them, as books tell us, 
His name Eodriguez, surnamed de Vasconcellos. 

XXV. 

" And of the wing, which to this corresponded. 
At that time Yasques de Almada had command, 
AVho afterwards was of Abranches noble Conde, 
Did drill and marshal the people to the left hand. 
Then in the rear was to be seen beyond it, 
Das Quinas e Castello's banner firmly to stand, 
With the brave King John apparently in all parts, 
Moving about eclipsing the lustre of Mars. 

XXVI. 

" There s-tood timorously beside the walls of houses, 

A fearfully chilling, joyfully thrilling throng, 

In prayers the mothers, sisters, dames, and spouses. 

Promising fasts, and pilgrimages long. 

Now came the warlike squadrons, order disposes, 

In front of the enemy's companies so strong, 

AVhich with very loud cries and shouts received them; 

Though doubts and misgivings did by no means leave them. 

XXVII. 

" Loudly resound the trumpets message-bearing, 

The whistling fifes and faith- in spiring drums ; 

The ensigns leap to their gaudy standards flaring, 

Of many colours and variety of looms. 

'Twas in the season, when in the busy airing, 

Ceres with abundance to the labourer comes ; 

In August when Sol the fair Astrea caresses ; 

And Bacchus sweet must from ripest grapes expresses. 

* Attila. 



100 THE LUSIAD. 



XXTIII. 



" The Castillian trumpet sounds from Gruadarrama, 
Horrible, wild, dire, vast, and full of woe : 
Mount Artabro heard it, and sandy Gruadiana 
Backward turned its waves and upward seemed to flow. 
The Douro heard, and the country Transtagana ; 
Down to the sea the Tagus in doubt did go ; 
And the mothers who the-terrible sound did hear, 
Pressed closer to their breasts each little dear. 

XXIX. 

" How many faces blanched, lost their colour there ! 
How to the heart hastens the friendly blood ! 
How in times of greatest danger the people's fear 
Is oft much greater than all the peril eschewed ! 
And if not so, it seems so ; the furious cheer 
To attack or overcome the enemy rude. 
Makes us heedless of the loss so great and rare, 
Of corporeal members, or the life so dear. 

XXX. 

" The movements of uncertain war begin ; 

The nearest wing of each army is coming on ; 

On one side, for the defence of the land they are in, 

On the other, in hopes to gain and make it their own : 

At length the great Pereira, is first to win 

All valour himself, as amongst the foremost shewn ; 

Charges, breaks through, and the land thickly sows 

"With bodies of those who want it, being its foes. 

XXXI. 

" ]Srow roaring and hissing through thick and dustv air. 
Javelins, darts, arrows, and other missiles fly : 
Under the hard feet of the ardent horses, the bare 
Earth trembles, and valleys echo to the sky ; 
They shiver their lances in the onset rare ; 
Palls in heavy hard armour thunder nigh : 
The enemy repeatedly charges the small 
Porce of brave Nuno, who defies them all. 



CAITTO IV. 101 



XXXII. 



" Behold his brothers there against him going : 

Ugly and cruel case ! but it daunts him not. 

Less is it to wish to kill a brother, knowing 

That against his king and country that brother fought : 

Of this class of renegades many showing 

Their faces in the first squadron, were forward brought 

Against brothers and parents : strange unhappy fate ! 

Like the civil wars of Julius and Pompey Grreat. 

XXXIII. 

" O Sertorius, noble Coriolanus, 

Catiline, and all ye others of past ages, 

Who 'gainst your own countrymen, were so profane as 

To become their enemies and commit outrages, 

If down there in the dark kingdom of Sumanus 

Ye receive for such offences the due wages. 

Tell him, that amongst Portuguese as well as you, 

There have been also sometimes traitors too. 

XXXIY. 

" Here part of ours were broken and gave way ; 
So many of the enemy their valour trying ; 
JN'uno is there, looking just as when at bay 
On hills of Ceuta looks the furious lion. 
When he sees around the chivalresque array, 
Accustomed the plains of Tetuan to fly on : 
They persecute him with lances, and he appears 
Only disturbed a little, but nothing fears. 

XXXV. 

" With stern look he regards them, but the beast of prey 
With savage ire feels no commiseration 
Por those who turn their backs, but in the thick array 
Of spears, he dashes to their consternation. 
So the cavaliers upon the green sward lay, 
Tinging it with foreign blood : such a prostration 
Befel a good many ; even the heart most valiant 
Loses its virtue against such an assailant. 



102 THE lUSlAD. 

XXXVI. 

" Jolin keenly felt tlie affront that did thus fall 

On Nnno ; and with a skilful Captain's art, 

"Was everywhere, saw all, and gave to all, 

"With his presence and words of animation, heart. 

As the fierce lioness leaving cubs, young and small, 

Within her lair, by hunger forced to part ; 

In returning cannot find a single one, 

The Massilian shepherd having left her none,* 

XXXYII. 

" Kuns furious, raging, and like thunder roaring, 
Makes the Seven-Brothers mountain-echoes ring : 
So John, with other chosen forces pouring 
His best men forward to succour the right wing. 
' O brave companions ! O ye most enduring 
Cavaliers ; all others on earth excelling : 
Defend your country, know that the esperance 
Of liberty now depends upon your lance. 

XXXVIII. 

. " ^ See you me here, your king, and companion in war, 
"Who amongst lances, arrows, and harnesses 
Of the enemy, charge, and ever go before ? 
Fight on, my true and trusty Portuguese ! ' 
This said the magnanimous royal warrior ; 
And then four times he did his lance carefully poise, 
Throwing it with force ; and by that throw at once 
The last sighs of many followed the trusty lance. 

XXXIX. 

" Eecause his people thereby warmed anew, 

"With a noble shame, and honourable flame, 

Emulous who should most by valiant daring do, 

To conquer dangers in the martial game. 

They strive ; the flame stains iron with its glow, 

Breastplates theybreak through first, then breasts the same, 

And thus they jointly receive, and death-wounds give, 

As if life were not at stake, and they could live ! 

* Massylia, a province in Numidia, greatly infested with lions, 
particularly Ihat part called Ossete viontes irmaos, the Seven-Brothers 
mountains. 



CANTO IV. 103 

XL. 

" Many are despatclied tlie Stygian lake to see, 
In whose bodies entered the iron and the death ; 
There dies the Master of Saint lago, he 
Who fought most bravely to his latest breath. 
There also dies, making great wasterie, 
Another Master, Calatrava, of bad faith : 
The Pereiras also renegadoes die, 
Eenegades to the fates, and to the sky. 

XLI. 

" Many of the common people of no name 
G-o ; as fast as nobles to the dark profound ; 
Where the three-faced-dog's hunger ever is the same 
For the souls, that pass there from this upper ground. 
And because here they know how to subdue and tame, 
And the pride of furious enemies to astound ; 
The sublime Castillian banner was defeated, 
And at the Lusitanians' feet abated. 

XLII. 

" Here the furious battle looks more wildly so, 

With the dead, the cries, the blood spilt, and the gashes : 

The multitude of people on earth laid low, 

Has changed the flowers' colours with crimson dashes. 

Now they turn to fly, — life flies ; no more the blow 

Of fury lives, abundant lances and maces ; 

Now the King of Castille sees it is a defeat. 

And, from his purpose turned, finds he must retreat, 

XLTII. 

" They leave the camp therefore to the conqueror, 
Content they leave not there their lives beside : 
The fugitives are pursued, and fly ; for terror 
Gives not only feet but wings their flight to guide. 
They bury in the deep breast the sad dolor 
Of death, of estates expended ; wealth misapplied ; 
Grief, sorrow, dishonour, and extreme vexation, 
Seeing others triumph o'er their spoliation. 



104 THE LUSIAD. 



XLIT. 



" Some go about abusing and blaspheming 

Against tlie first who war made in the world ; 

And some the greedy thirst of others blaming, 

Whose covetous souls these banners had unfurled ; 

Who other people's goods and chattels claiming, 

Poor miserable people into ruin hurled : 

Leaving so many mothers, so many wives, 

Without sons, withoiit husbands, wretched all their lives. 

XLY. 

" The conqueror John remained the usual days 
In camp, accoi^ding to custom, in great glory ; (m 2) 
With offerings afterwards, and pilgrimage and praise, 
As well as thanks to Him who gave the victory. 
But ]Sruno, who desired by no other ways 
Amongst the; people to record his memory. 
Than by ever-sovereign arms, the surest way. 
Passed to the lands that beyond the Tagus lay. 

XLVI. 

" His destiny favoured so far his design, 
That the result was equal to his thought ; 
For the coiuitry on the Yandal's frontier line 
Yielded the spoil, and the conquest which he sought. 
Now the Boetical banner of Seville fine. 
And of various Senhores, were m a moment brought 
To the ground at his feet, defenceless and with ease, 
Vanquished by the valiant force of the Portuguese. 

XLVII. 

" By these and other victories of great charge. 
Were the Castillians' sufferers, ills abated ; 
When peace, now much desired by the people at large, 
Was by the conquerors vouchsafed to the defeated ; 
Afterwards it pleased the Omnipotent Pather to urge 
That the two Kings inimical should be mated 
Unto two illustrious English Princesses, 
Handsome, beautiful, renowned, and full of traces. 



CANTO lY. 105 



XL VIII. 



" It grieved mucTi tlie brave breast, enured to war, 
To have no enemy then to keep in motion ; 
Thus having no longer with whom to fight on shore, 
He proceeded to attack the waves of Ocean. 
This is the first King who nobly exile bore 
'From his country, to give the African a notion 
By dint of arms, how much better for man 
Is the law of Christ, than the law Mahometan. 

XLIX. 

" See thousands of birds the liquid silver bears 
On furious Thetis' restless heaving breast, 
Opening their crooked wings to catch the airs, 
Where once Alcides made earth's limits rest. 
The mount A.byla, and the noble walls are theirs 
Of Ceuta ; taken and the Mahometan pest 
Turned out of it ; thus securing the whole of Spain 
From disloyal Julian's treacherous coup-de-main. 

L. 

" Death did not consent that Portugal should enjoy, 
Through many years so heroic a King as John ; 
But in the sovereign choirs of Heaven to employ 
Him amongst the company to which he had gone. 
But for defence of the Lusitanians, to their joy. 
He they were bereft of, left them for the throne, 
And for the country's defence and augmentation. 
Infants sublime, a famous generation. 

LI. 

" Not that under King Edward all went so well 
While he held that highest elevation ; 
And thus ever alternates the good and the ill, 
The happiness and the troubles, of a nation. 
Who ever yet saw felicity perpetual, 
Or who in fortune has seen firm duration ? 
So in this kingdom, and under this King, 
They were not accustomed to see any such thing. 
F 2 



106 THE LUSIAD. 



LII. 

" Tliey saw captive the holy brother rerdinand : 
"Who to such lofty enterprise aspired, 
As to save poor beleaguered people, and 
Unto the Saracen surrendered as required. 
Solely for the love of country, in Paynim land, 
The life of a prince to that of a slave untired ! 
Bather than for the first give up Ceuta strong : 
Preferring the public advantage to his own. (n. 2.) 

LIII. 

" Codrus, rather than the enemy should overcome. 

Preferred that his own life should be o'ercome by death 

Eegulus, rather than that his country should succumb. 

Chose rather to give up liberty and breath. 

This, that Spain should not to submission come. 

To eternal captivity submits his faith, 

ISTor Codrus, nor Curtius, wonderful as such, 

Nor even the loyal Decii did so much. 

LIT. 

"But Alphonso, of the kingdom the sole heir, 
A glorious name in arms in our Hesperia, 
That turned the pride of a barbarous frontier 
Into a low humiliated interior ; 
Certainly an invincible Cavalier, 
Even had he never wished to see Iberia ; 
'But Africa will hold it an impossible thing, 
Por any to conquer so terrible a King. 

LY. 

" This boldly dared to pluck the golden fruit, 
Which no one save Tyrinthius could gather : 
Nor has the brave Moor until now, got his neck out 
Of the yoke which he then placed across his wither. 
He wears the green laurel and palm his brows about. 
From victories o'er the barbarian, who hastens either 
To defend moorish Alcacer, the strong Villa, 
Or Tangiers populous, or rugged Arzilla. 



CANTO lY. 107 



LVI. 



" But they at length having entered in by force, 
The adamantine walls threw to the ground, 
The Portuguese forces, as a matter of course, 
Levelling all before them that in strength they found. 
Prodigies in arms extreme, an ample source 
Of elegant record, and worthy to be crowned, 
The cavaliers performed in this grand enterprise, 
The fame of the Portuguese more to signalize. 

LVII. 

" But afterwards moved by ambition to command, 
And the glory of conquest, which he wished to feel, 
He attacks the King of Aragon, Perdinand, 
About the powerful kingdom of Castille. 
An inimical multitude unites in the land 
Prom the varied people proud who therein dwell, 
Between Cadiz and the lofty Pyrenee, 
The whole of whom King Perdinand obey. 

LVIII, 

" Unwilling idle in the kingdom to remain ; 

The young John* soon received orders that he might 

Assist his ambitious father, nor in vain, 

Por the aid he afforded was by no means slight. 

At length emerging from the perilous plain, 

With front serene, undaunted from the fight. 

The father defeated with loss, but coming out 

Of the action so as to leave defeat in doubt, 

LIX. 

" Because the son sublime, and dignified, 
A handsome, strong, and spirited cavalier, 
Eemained on the field a whole day occupied, 
In doing much damage to the enemy there. 
Thus was Octavius conquered on his side, 
And Anthony conqueror, his colleague elsewhere, 
When they avenged upon Philippi's plain, 
On Cesar's murderers great Cesar slain. 

* The Prince of Portug-al. 



108 THE LrSIAU. 



LX. 



" But after Alplionso liad j^assed the dark niglit of death. 
And had gone to lodge in the bright Heaven serene, 
The Prince who succeeded to his crown on earth, 
Was John the Second, and the thirteenth King. 
This, to gain fame eternal the skies beneath, 
More than land could tempt man to seek or sing, 
Attempted : which was to seek the rosy Aurore, 
And the limits of the remotest sea and shore. 

LXI. 

'^He sent his messengers, with orders to go through 
Spain, France, and Italy so celebrated ; 
And that illustrious part to ^dsit too, 
And embark, where Parthenope was fated 
To be interred : Naples, to evil destiny true, 
Has been by various people subjugated, 
Until many years have made the fated ground, 
Hlustrious by the rule of the Spains renown' d, 

LXII. 

*' They navigate the high Sicilian sea, 
And by the sandy shores of the Isle of E-hodes ; 
And thence to the lofty banks stilL known to be. 
Where Magnus found on earth his last abode.* 
They visit Memphis, and lands that annually 
Are by the rising waves of Nile o'erllowed ; 
They ascend to Ethiopia, upper Egypt, 
Where Christ's holy law still piously is kept. 

LXIII. 

"They also pass the billows Erythrean, 

Which the children of Israel without ships passed thro' ; 

And went beyond the mountains Nabathean,t 

Which the son of Ishmael gave his name unto. 

Along the odoriferous coasts Sabsean, 

To which the mother of xldonis for safety flew, 

Coasting by all Arabia, that had been found 

Happy ; the Stony and Desert passing round. 

* Near Alexandria. 
f Named from Nabaoth, the son of IshmaeL 



CANTO IT. 109 



LXIT. 



" They enter the Persian Gulf, where still endureB 
The remembrance of old Babel's confused cries : 
There where mix the Euphrates and Tigris pure. 
All glorious from the fountains whence they arise. 
Thence they went in search of that water sure, 
Which must yet be a subject for larger histories, 
Of India, by the waves of Ocean vast. 
Where even daring Trajan never passed. 

LXT. 

" They saw many peoples strange, and quite unknown, 

Of India, Caramania, and Gedrosia, 

Saw various strange ways to which men are prone, 

That ev'ry region creates, and predisposes. 

But in ways so rugged, with such obstacles, none 

Could ever easily return if they chose : 

There they were to die, in short, and there remain ; 

Nor to their loved country ever return' d again. 

LXYI. 

" It seems as if the bright Heaven had provided 

For Emanuel, and his high aspirations. 

This enterprise so arduous, which moved and guided 

To exalted and illustrious operations. 

Emanuel, who King John succeeded 

In the kingdom, and in such vast contemplations, 

After he had of the kingdom taken charge. 

Undertook the conquest of the sea at large. 

LXVII. 

" Who animated with the noble thought 
Erom former kings derived, of obligation ; 
(Whose intention ever was, just as it ought, 
To aggrandise ever their dear land and nation), 
Omitting not a moment to devote. 
To this his hours of rest and meditation : 
When clear light flies, and the stars shining all, 
Invite all else to slumber, as down they fall : 



110 THE LrSIAD. 

LXVIII. 

" Being now reposing on the golden bed, 
Where ever most active is imagination ; 
Continually revolving in his head 
Of his high office and birth, the obligation ; 
"Without disoccupying the heart which led 
The eyes to the excited contemplation ; 
For however lightly we may fall asleep, 
Morpheus of various forms, will afford a peep. 

LXIX. 

*' Here it appeared to him that he ascended 

So high that he attained to the first sphere ; 

"Whence before him he saw various worlds extended, 

Nations of many people wild and rare ; 

And close to where the birth of day impended, 

After long extending the eyes through distant air, 

He saw ancient, far off, very lofty mountains, 

From which descended two clear and gushing fountains 

liXX. 

^^ Birds of prey, wild beasts, herds of cattle and horses, 
Inhabited the woody mountain, or browzed : 
Thousands of forest trees, herbs various, thick copses, 
The passage and intercourse of men opposed. 
These rugged mountains' adversary forces 
Against more communication so disposed. 
Sufficed to shew that ever since Adam's sinning, 
'Till our years, man's passage there had no beginning. 

LXXI. 

*' Prom the waters there seemed to come forth. 
And with long strides inclining towards him, 
Two men, appearing very aged both, 
Of aspect, though wild, yet venerably grim, 
From the locks of their hair all covered as with froth 
Fell drops, still bathing all the body dim ; 
Whereof the skin was dullish black, and rough ; 
The beard shaggy, unshaven, but still short enough. 



CANTO IT. Ill 



LXXII. 



" Of both tlie front was crowned and attired, 
"With boughs and plants unknown, and of them one 
Appeared as though he felt fatigued and tired, 
And had by far the longest journey gone : 
And so the water, whose current slow did glide, 
Seemed as if from some other part it had run ; 
As Alpheus from Arcadia seeks in Syracuse 
The arms of his far-followed ArethCise. 

LXXIII. 

*' This who seemed the most grave in person, with a frown, 
In this manner called from a distance to the King : 
* thou ! for whose kingdoms, and for whose crown, 
Grreat part of the world is reserved ; we to thee bring, 
We whose fame unto every part has flown, 
Whose necks have never been bent under anything. 
Advise, that it is time thou shouldst send forth who 
Shall from us receive the tributes great now due. 

LXXIT. 

" ' I am the illustrious Granges, who in Heaven 

Terrestrial, truly have my cradle hid ; 

This other is King Indus, to whom is given 

Birth in these mountains, which thou seest overhead. 

Hard war we both must cost thee ; but this, even. 

Is worth insisting on ; for if, finally, you did : 

With victories still unheard of, strange yet true. 

All the people thou meetest there thou mayest subdue.' 

LXXV, 

" 'No more said th' illustrious and sacred river, 
But both did in a moment disappear: 
Emanuel woke up with a new endeavour, 
And great alteration of mind from dreaming there. 
Just then Phoebus extending his bright mantle over 
The still dark drowsy slumbering hemisphere ; 
He saw the morning colours, in Heaven spread, 
Those of the blushing rose, and flowers red. 



112 THE LrSIAD. 



LXXYI. 



" The King tlie senhores to his council summons, 

And submits to them the figures of his vision ; 

E-elates the words of the old man so uncommon, 

"Which were to all great cause of admiration. 

Thej determined that the outfit should be forthcoming. 

For sending forth a nautical expedition, 

With orders that it should proceed as all advise, 

To seek by sea new climates and new skies. 

LXXTII. 

" I, who but little thought, that in efiect 

I might possess that which the soul desired ; 

Who always great undertakings did afiect 

Of this sort, to which the presaging heart aspired ; 

I know not for what reason, in what respect. 

Or by what good signal, that from me transpired. 

The King renowned should have placed in myhands the key 

Of this grand undertaking, entrusted then to me, 

LXXVIIT. 

" And in kind terms, which are a command from Kings, 
And with loving-kindness urged, which my heart gained, 
He said ; ' The arduous and brilliant things, 
By labour, and with fatigue, arg alone attained. 
It renders persons high, and honour brings, 
To lose a life, or peril it, for good obtained ; 
"Which life, when not lost by cowardice, never ends, 
Because, the shorter it lasts, the longer it extends. 

LXXIX. 

*' ' You from amongst all others I have selected 
For an enterprise, which to your care is due ; 
Labour illustrious, hard, and if e'er intellect did 
Much, then I know this for me you will readily do.' 
I could hold no more: but said, King! heaven directed! 
Myself to expose to iron, to fire, or to snow, 
Is so little to do for thy service, that all 
That grieves me is that life itself is but small. 



cain'to IV. 113 



LXXX. 



" I shall imagine adventures of magnitude, 
Sucli as Eurysteus for Alcides did propose ; 
The Cleonian Lion ; the Harpies keen and rude, 
The Pig of Erymanthus ; a Hydrate oppose : 
To descend to the vain shades, devoid of good, 
Where the fields of Dis Styx laves with dreamy woes ; 
Because the greater the peril the more the woe, 
That for thee, O King ! soul and body would undergo. 

LXXXI. 

" With sumptuous acknowledgments he thanked me. 
And spoke in lofty terms of my good will ; 
So virtue encouraged, lives, increasingly, 
Approbation leads to mightier efforts still. 
Paulo de Glama would go with me, he 
Out of love, as my dear brother, desired to fulfil 
Eriendship too ; and was not less covetous of fam-e 
And honour than his brother of the same name. 

LXXXII. 

" They also to me joined Nicolas Coelho, 

Great sufferer of hard toil and labour great ; 

Both assist me in service, and in council well too, 

Experienced in arm.s, and brave as fate. 

Then of young people I chose the rest, whose value 

Increases in age and valour at equal rate ; 

The whole a strong force ; which always proves its worth. 

When any great occasion calls it forth. 

LXXXIII. 

" They were to be by Emanuel remunerated, 
According to the love and zeal they should display, 
xAnd with encouraging words were animated 
To whatever labours might come in their way. 
So also were the Minyss associated, 
That for the golden fleece fought, as they did say, 
In the fatidical ship, said the first to be 
That ventured out upon the Euxine sea. 



114 THE LUSIAD. 



LXXXIV. 



" And now in the port of Ulysses so renowned, 

With a noble rapture, and with grand design, 

(Where mingle the sweet water, and white sandy ground, 

Where saline Neptune and sweet Tagus join), 

The ships are ready ; and there is not found 

Hesitation in the juvenile party mine. 

Either among those maritime, or those of Mars, 

To follow me most readily to all parts. 

LXXXY. 

" By the shores advance the soldiers properly dressed, 
Of various colours, and of various arts ; 
And, not the less prepared with force the best 
For seeking in the world the unknown parts. 
In the strong vessels the genial winds at rest, 
Waved the aerial standards ; and with our hearts 
They promised, by passing over the great sea, 
To be stars in Olympus, as Argos proved to be. 

LXXXYI. 

" After being equipped completely, with all faith 

In such a voyage, and as seemed expedient, 

We proceeded next to prepare our souls for death, (o 2) 

Which ever before the eyes of mariners went. 

From that highest Power, which the etherial breath 

Supplies to all, or limits in extent. 

We implored the favour that it would be our guide, 

And for our undertaking long provide. 

LXXXVII. 

" Thus we parted from the holy Temple 
Which stands on the margin of the Tagus' haven, 
And bears the name of that land, a blest example ! 
Where God was in the flesh to the world given.* 
I assure thee, O King ! that when I contemplate 
This, and remember those shores finally leaving, 
I am so overcome with doubt and fear. 
That scarcely can I yet restrain a tear ! 

* Bellem, i. e, Bethlehem. 



CANTO IV. 115 

LXXXVIII. 

" The people of the city on that day 

(Some for their friends, others for relations, 

Others only to see) assembled on the quay, 

With looks of sorrow, and farewell demonstrations. 

While we along with the virtuous company 

Of a thousand Eeligious, amid due prostrations, 

In solemn procession praying unto Grod, 

Took slowly towards the ships the eventful road. 

LXXXTX. 

" Eor such a journey so donbtful, and so long. 
The people looked upon ns as already lost ; 
The women piously w^eeping in the throng, 
The men with sighs heavily from bosoms tost. 
But spouses, sisters, and all those among 
Whom love had its distrusts ; — did feel the most 
That anxious desperation and cold fear 
That they should not see us again so soon appear. 

xc. 

" Such said : ' son, to me in my old age 
My solace, comfort, and sweet protection 
In this my long and weary pilgrimage, 
Whicli I must end in tears and sad af&iction ; 
Why dost thou leave me wretched ? and engage 
From me to go. O son of my affection ! 
To have thy funeral interment where 
Thou shalt be to fishes the aliment so rare.' 

xci. 

*' One in dishevelled locks : ' Sweet spouse beloved ! 
Without whom that I could live, Love would not allow ; 
Why risk upon th'angry sea, that life approved, 
Which to me belongs, more than it pertains to you ? 
How for a doubtful career where none have moved, 
Can you forget our sweet affection true ? 
Our love, our contentment, can you hope to find 
Amongst the sails, borne lightly as the wind ?' 



116 THE LTJSIjU). 



XCII. 



" In these and other words, the language true 

Of love, and of human piety or regard. 

The aged, and the children followed too, 

In whom age may blunt the expression, or youth retard. 

The heights respond that nearest were to the view, 

Almost moved by the sublimely pious regard : 

The white sands were copiously with tears bedewed, . 

By those who almost equalled them in multitude. 

XCIII. 

"We without being seen arose to go, 

That neither mother, nor spouse, should see us leaving, 

Not to shake our firm resolution, nor be slow, 

Anxious to avoid such cause of further grieving ; 

I determined therefore on embarking so, 

"Without usual farewell embraces giving ; 

"Which although a good custom with those who love. 

To those who depart, or remain, must painfal prove. 

XCIY. 

" Bat an aged man of venerable aspect. 
Who remained among the people, on the shore, 
Nodding, and fixing on us his eyes direct, 
Thrice shook his head our going to deplore ; 
"With heavy voice yet so loud that we could collect 
From the sea clearly what the meaning they bore, 
With that knowledge which experience teaches best, 
These words came to us from the aged breast :* 

XOT. 

" ' glory of commanding ! Yain desire 

For this vanity, which some of us call fame ! 

cheating appetite, whereof the fire 

By popular breath is fanned, which we honour name ! 

What chastisement extreme, what justice dire 

Dost thoa not exact in the breast that loves thy flame ! 

What deaths ! what dangers ! and what torments ! 

What cruelties in such experiments ? 

* " By this old man is personified the populace of Portugal ; — never 
was any measure of government more unpopular than the expedition 
of Gama." — Miclile. 



CANTO IV. 117 

XCTI. 

" ' Painful inquietude of the soul and of life ; 
Source of backslidings, and adulteries ; 
Sagacious well-known consumer and vile thief, 
Of men's estates, of kingdoms and territories ! 
They call thee illustrious, they call thee chief, 
Although deserving of infamous vituperaries : 
They call thee fame, and glory sovereign ; 
Names with which the foolish people are taken in. 

xcvii. 

*' ^ Hast thou determined to what new disasters 
Thou wilt lead these kingdoms, and these people sailing r 
What dangers, — to what deaths mATst they hasten faster, 
Under some eminent name o'er them prevailing ? 
What promises of kingdoms, mines of their master 
Grold, whereof thy promises are never-failing ? 
What fames, wilt thou not promise them ? what histories? 
What triumphs ? what palms ? what laurels, and what 
victories ? 

XOYIII. 

" ' But, generation of that mad insane. 

By whose sin and disobedience espelled, 

Not only from the Kingdom sovereign, 

That made thee outcast here, in sad absence held : 

But yet of another more than human scene 

Of quiet, and simple innocence, happy field, 

Of the golden age did thee so wholly deprive, 

As to leave thee in that of iron and arms to strive. 

xcix. 

" ' Now that in this palatable vanity 
Thou earnest the light fancy so very high ; 
Now that to brutal cruelty and ferocity. 
Thou hast set the name of courage and chivalry ; 
Now that thou prizest in such high degree 
This contempt of that life, which ought to be 
Tor ever valued h'ghly, by those who have it. 
Since even He feared to lose it, who first gave it : 



118 THE LL'SIAD. 



C. 



" ' Have you not close to you now the Ishmaelite 
With whom you could rake up old wars' remains ? 
Does not he of Arabia keep still th' accursed rite, 
If thou wouldst fight Christ's law alone to maintain ? 
Has he not a thousand cities, territory infinite, 
If lands and riches still you desire to gain ? 
Is not that territory for arms renowned, 
If thou wouldst victories gain for empty sound ? 

CI. 

" ' Cease you to meet at the gates the enemy 
To go in quest of another at great distance, 
Por whom depopulate the ancient kingdom, to be 
So weakened by sending it so far from hence ? 
Seek ye the uncertain and unknown jeopardy, 
Because fame exalts with flattery's recompense, 
Styling thee Lord, with fulsome titles copious, 
Of Indias, Persias, Arabias, and Ethiopias ? 

CII. 

" ' Oh, cu-rsed be the first, who in the world 
Among the waves stuck sails upon dry wood ! 
Worthy of pain eternal, to be down-hurled. 
If just be the just law I follow, and ever should. 
Never may judge, with truth's high banners unfurled, 
Nor sounding lyre, nor genius bright that could : 
Give thee for this, or fame or record glorious. 
But with thee end thy name, and tale victorious. 

cm. 

" * The son of Japhet from the Heavens brought down 

That fire he added to the human breast ; 

Fire, whose flame a world into arms has blown, 

In deaths, — in dishonours, (grand deceitful pest) ! 

How much better, Prometheus, hadst thou not done. 

And the injury to the world how much less ; 

Had thy famous statue never been warmed 

By the fire of lofty designs, by which 'twas charmed ! 



CANTO IV. 119 



CIY. 



" ' Then the miserable youth had never driven 
The lofty car of his father through empty air ; 
Nor the great Architect, with the youth's name given 
A name to the sea nor to a river ; his fame to bear : 
Nor any undertaking between hell and heaven, 
By fire, sword, water, heat or freezing air 
Been ever attempted by man's generation. 
Condition strange ! — Wretched realization !' 



CANTO V. 



" These seutences tlie honoured old man 

"Was Tociferatiug, when we opened wide 

The wings to the breeze serene, and thus began 

Our voyage from the loved port, o'er the bounding tide. 

And as amongst sailors' customs it is one, 

In loos'ning sail, to heaven we beckoned and cried, 

' A good voyage :' when very soon afterwards the wind 

Our masts by its usual action much inclined. 

II. 

^' At this season, the eternal source of light 

Entered the truculent Nemsean Leo ; 

And the world, consuming rapidly time's flight, 

Being in its sixth age, moved but sickly and slow ; 

And so we find, that along the same path bright 

The sun just fourteen hundred times did go, 

With ninety- seven additional, which he 

Had run, made the year this armada put to sea. 

III. 

^' Now the sight banished but by slow degrees 
The few dear paternal summits that remained : 
Still the loved Tagus was there, and still one sees 
The fresh serra of Cintra, and this the eye retained. 
AVe left there besides, with our loved Portuguese, 
The heart, with all the woes it entertained ; 
And after all had vanished from our eye, 
We saw nought around at length but sea and sky. 



CANTO y. 121 

iy« 

" Thus were we entering upon those seas 
Which no generation had before gone over — • 
New islands seeing, fanned by the new breeze. 
Which isles the generous Henry did discover :* 
Of Mauritania, the mountains, towns, and trees ; 
Lands giant Antseus once held and had stalked over, 
Leaving to the left hand, taking to the right — 
No other course is safe — but doubtful quite. 

T. 

'' We passed by the great island of Madeira, 
Which, being extremely woody, was so named ; 
Of all those that by ourselves first peopled were, a 
Celebrated island, both as named and famed : 
But not as later discovered than Cythera 
Has anything been by the friends of Venus gained ; 
Eor had this been sooner known, they had forgot 
Cyprus, G-nido, and Paphos too, for this sweet spot. 

VI. 

** We left the sterile coast of Barbaric, 
Where still the Azenegues feed their flocks — 
People who the fresh waters never taste nor see, 
Nor the herbs of the field with plenty ever stock ; 
The land not good for any fruit or tree, 
Where the birds digest even hard iron and rocks, 
Suffering on all sides poverty extreme, 
Barbary and Ethiopia between. 

VII. 

" We pass the limit to which the sun arrives, 
When he drives his chariot the North unto — 
Where dwell those people who were once deprived 
By the son of Clymene of the daylight's hue. 
Here people strange bathe in, and irrigation drive 
Erom the dark Senegal the cooling current blue — 
Where Cape Arsinarius' name's no longer heard, 
Since by our people it has been called Cape Verde.f 

* The discovery of the West Indian Islands by Columbus was niade 
in 1492 and 1493. His discovery of the continent of America was not 
till 1 498. The fleet of Gama sailed from the Tagus in 1 497. 

t Called by Ptolemy Caput Assinarium. G 



122 THE LrSlAD. 



Tin. 



" Having passed also by the Canary Isles, 
Whicli once did bear the name of Portunate, 
We sailed amongst those daughters juveniles, 
Of old Hesper ; Hesperides, the name they get ; 
Countries amongst which now new miracles 
Our armada was to see and celebrate : 
There we entered a harbour with fair wind, 
That in the land fresh water we might find. 

IX. 

" The name of the Isle by us then visited 
Was that of the great warrior Sant-Iago — 
A saint who had the Spaniards so much assisted 
Against the Moors, that they made them all away go. 
!From hence again, as soon as Boreas whistled, 
We turned to pursue our watery way through 
The saline ocean, and left the land and port 
To which, for sweet refreshment, we did resort. 

" Here along th' African coast, a portion great 
Which to the eastward of the armada lay, 
Was the Province of Jalofo, where separate {p 2) 
Into diverse nations the people black ; we say 
The very great Mandingo, by which state 
We enjoy the rich, shining metal, from the quay 
Of the winding Grambia, whose waters lave 
The Mandingo, and great Atlantic doth receive. 

XI. 

" We passed the Dorcades, peopled anciently 
By the sisters who in former times lived there — 
Who, totally deprived of vision, save one eye, 
All three the use of that one eye did share. 
Thou alone — thou whose curled tresses waved high 
The golden locks, of which Neptune was aware, 
Turned now into the ugliest in the land, 
Didst with fell vipers cover the bui^niug sand. 



CANTO V. 123 

XII. 

" Ever on, in short, to the southward the sharp prow 

We pointed, till we entered the gulf so wide, 

Leaving the very rocky Sierra Leoa, 

And the Cape, to which the name Palmas we applied : {q 2) 

The great river, where still contending roar 

The sea and well-known shores, left on one side, 

Was there ; vdth the famous Isle distinguished so much 

By the name of one who the side of God did touch. 

XIII. 

" There lay the very great kingdom of Congo, ( r 2) 
By us now converted to the Christian faith, 
Through which the river Zaire flows clear and long, 
A river ne'er seen by the ancients of the earth. 
Through this large sea, at length, I my course prolong 
Erom the well-known Pole of Calisto, lost beneath, {s 2) 
Having now the ardent limit passed over. 
Dividing one-half of the world from the other. 

XIT. 

" Now we had discovered shining straight before us, 
There in the new hemisphere a star as new, 
Unseen by other people, or explorers 
Who were uncertain of what they so little knew : 
We saw the part less shining and less glorious, 
As if wanting stars — or with stars less in view, (t 2) 
Of the fixed Pole, where as yet we nothing know, 
What other land commences, or sea may flow. 

XV. 

" Thus passing through those regions which Apollo, 
Twice passes over, two whole winters making, 
Likewise two summers, which each other follow. 
Whilst from one Pole to th' other he his course is taking ; 
Through calms, torments and oppressions, where Eolo, 
In anger always with storms the sea is shaking, 
AVe saw the Bears, to the great distress of Juno, 
Bathing themselves in the waters of Neptuno, 



124 THE LUSIAD, 



XYI. 



" To relate to ttiee as I coiiLd wish, the fright'ning 
Things of the sea, which men do not understand, 
Sudden thunderings, tremendous lightning, 
Which seemed to turn into fire all the air at hand ; 
Black heavy rains, dismally dark nights, in 
Which roar the thunderbolts, cleaving both sea and land, 
Were not less labour, than a grand mistake. 
Although with voice of iron I th' attempt could make. 

XTII. 

" I witnessed those things, which the mariners rude, 
Whose only master is their experience long. 
Always consider facts, matters of certitude, 
Judging all things by appearances alone. 
And which those whose judgments are considered good, 
Who by science and pure genius alone have gone, 
See but as secrets, and on the contrary view, 
As little understood, or anything but true, 

XVIII. 

" I saw quite evidently that vivid light. 
Which the people maritime consider holy 
In times of torment, when coy winds aiFright, 
Darkness tempestuous, showers melancholy. 
'Twas not less to all a most miraculous sight, 
And cause of much astonishment to see. 
The clouds of the sea, with a large pipe sup 
The lofty ocean waves, and draw them up. 

XIX. 

" I saw it certainly (and cannot presume 
That the sight deceived me), itself arise 
A slight vapour in the air, then a form assume. 
With the wind whirl, and reach up to the skies ; 
A water-pipe hence to the highest sky did loom 
So clear and yet so slender, that the eyes 
Could not., distinguish it easily up there : 
Prom the matter of the clouds and the thin air. 



CAITTO Y. X2L^ 



XX. 



" By little and little it went on increasing, 

And grew at length like unto a huge mast ; 

Here narrowing, there enlarging, before ceasing, 

The large spouts of water sucked themselves up so fast ; 

Below, the bounding billows thus releasing ; 

Above it, a cloud gathered of a darker cast 

Than others, growing larger, but being charged. 

With the load of water by which it was enlarged. 

XXI, 

" As we may see the red blood-sucking leech 
In lips of cattle (which imprudently, at first 
Drank at eventide — in the cool fount ;) enrich 
Themselves with other's blood, and quench their thirst ; 
There they fill and enormously outstretch : 
Greatly increasing, although they do not burst ; 
So the great column filling, is maintained 
Itself, and the black cloud also by it sustained. 

XXII. 

" But after that it had fattened itself from all, 
The foot it had in the sea right upwards grew, 
And in the heaven to rain, in short, did fall, 
As if with water, water to mix anew : 
Into waves turning again the billows all ; 
But the taste of the salt, it took out and withdrew. 
Thus the most learned in written knowledge may see, 
What secrets in nature still unknown may be. 

XXIII. 

" If the ancient philosophers, who went about 

Through so many lands such secrets to explore, 

Had passed through such miracles as I have, no doubt, 

And to such winds their sails had given o'er : 

What grand histories had they not made out ! 

What influence of signs, and stars had graced their lore ! 

What wonderful things ! What great qualities ! 

And all, without deception, pure realities. 



126 THE LTJSlAi). 

XXIT. 

" But now tlie planet, wWch in the first heaven 
Dwells, being five times accelerated, 
Now the half-face shewing, now round and even 
Will tell, how long the armada had navigated : 
When from the ethereal main-top a seaman, 
Of quick sight, ' Land ! Land !' vociferated : 
The people sprang up, eager to fix their eyes on, 
In transports of joy, the Eastern horizon, 

XXV. 

" 'Twas in the form of clouds they first began 
To discover the mountains that we then drew near ; 
To clear and prepare the heavy anchors they ran. 
Others the sails took in when we were almost there : 
And that we more certainly might know and scan 
In what remote part of the world then we were, 
With the astrolabe so subtle, to work we went, 
A rare, and newly invented instrument, {u 2) 

XXTI. 

" We afterwards disembarked on a spacious shore, 
Where the ships' companies wandered abroad. 
To see rare desireable things ne'er seen before. 
Of the land no other people before had trod. 
Whilst I with the pilots, on the sandy shore, 
Truly to find to what part we had been brought, 
Hemained to take the altitude of the sun. 
And on the world's picture to compass out our run. 

xxvir. 

" We found we already had the limit passed 

Of Semicaprian fish the boundary great. 

Being between it, and the Austral circle of frost. 

Part of the world most secretly situate, 

But, behold, by my companions encompass'd. 

Comes a stranger with skin quite black, a sable mate. 

Whom they took on the hills, and had compelled to come 

AloDg with them, while he gathered honey-comb. 



CA5TT0 V. 127. 



XXYIII, 



" Confused he seem'd at the strange sight, as one 
Who never before found himself in such extreme *. 
He neither understood us, nor did we that man, 
A savage more than brutal Polypheme : 
To shew him the rich fleece I then began 
Of Colchos, the metal beautiful, supreme, 
Then shining silver, and the warm spicerie ; 
But none of these did the brute seem to see, 

XXIX. 

" I made them shew him pieces that were more glaring, 
Beads of transparent crystal, some varvels, 
That were small and tinkling, a cap of vermilion flaring. 
Then I saw, as well as by signs and nods he could tell, 
And with winks, the thing also putting on and wearing, 
That this was what pleased him particularly well : 
I ordered them to let him go then, and ofl" he ran 
To the population, which was near at hand. 

XXX. 

" But early on the following day his fellows. 

All naked, and of the colour of dark night. 

Descending from the rocky hills and hollows, 

Came to seek the things refused by the other wight : 

Domesticated now enough, and jolly fellows 

They appeared, so Ferd'nand Yelloso thought he might 

Go and take a look at the people of the land, 

And set out with them through the bushes close at hand. 

XXXI. 

" Velloso had confidence in his strength of arm, 
And from arrogance believed he went secure ; 
But having gone a great way exposed to harm, 
Beyond whence he could by signal help procure ; 
Being on the look-out, as I felt some alarm 
For the adventurer ; behold from the woods obscure 
He emerges ; and on approaching the sea intent, 
But returning a great deal faster than he went. 



128" THE ltjsia:5. 

" The boat of Coellio hastened to the spot 
To take him in, but before it could arrive, 
A bold Ethiopian from the woods rushed out 
Upon him, that h& might not return alive : 
Others and others follow ; we saw in doubt 
Yelloso, with none to assist him there to strive ; 
I hastened thither ; and when my rowers neared, 
A negro band-upon the shore appeared. 

XXXIII. 

" From that dark cloud the arrows, and large stones, 
E,ained heavily upon us without bound : 
And they were not all exactly at the wind thrown. 
As in this thigh I brought from thence a wound : 
But we, as the persons who were suffering wrong, 
Grave them in return such thick-set rebound, 
That in more than the red bonnets, I suspect, 
They wore vermilion colour from this feat. 

XXXITv 

" And Yelloso being thus once more in safety. 
We thereupon to the armada all went back. 
Having seen thus the rude intent and enmity 
Of such a bestial, brutal, wicked pack : 
Prom whom no more intelligent reply 
Could we obtain about India, or the track. 
Than that we still were from it a very long way ; 
Therefore we again to the winds our sails display. 

XXXT. 

*' Then said one of his companions to Velloso, 
(None of the rest of them a smile restrained) 
' O la ! Yelloso, that hill that made you go so. 
Must be easier to come down than to ascend.' 
' It is, indeed:' (said the adventurous fellow), 
' But when I saw so many coming behind 
Of these dogs, I came rather faster down, you see, 
Bemembering that you were left here without me.' 



CANTO T. 1^^ 

XXXYI. 

" He then related what had occurred, and how 
Beyond that mountain, the negroes, of whom I speak, 
To go any further would not him allow, 
Meaning, if he did not return, his life to take : 
And on his turning, they into the woods did go, 
From whence emerging their attack to make, 
They might have sent us all to the kingdom obscure, 
To rob us more easily and be more secure, 

XXXTII. 

" But now j&ve suns had gone their daily round 
After we departed, to continue ploughing 
Those seas never by other nayigators found, 
"With winds most favourably the whole time blowing : 
"When one night, as I rather negligently lounged. 
Looking a-head of the prow, fast forward going, 
A cloud which seemed to obscure the air, , 
Above our heads did suddenly appear. 

XXXTIII. 

" It came so terrible, and overloaded, 

That in our hearts it caused a very great fear : 

The dark sea roaring ; and the long roar exploded, 

As if in vain it struck some rough rock near. 

O Divine Power ! I cried unto the Grod-head ! 

What threat divine, or what great secret here, 

This climate, and this sea shall now present us, 

What more than a tempest must now here torment us ? 

XXXIX. 

" I had not concluded, when a form like nature 
Presented itself in the air, robust and valid ; 
Of deformed gaunt and most gigantic stature, 
The face looked mournful, the beard was squalid : 
The eyes were sunken in the head, and the postin-e 
Dreadful and bad, the colour earthy and pallid. 
Curled was the crisp hair and of earth quite full ; 
Yellow were the teeth, the mouth was black and dull. 

g2 



130 THE LrSIAD. 



XL. 



" So large the limbs were, that I can very well 
Assure thee, that this might well have been the second 
Oolossus of Ehodes, so strange as stories tell, 
That one of the world's seven wonders it was reckoned : 
"With horrid tone of voice it spoke, like the rough swell 
Of Ocean, that seemed to come from the deep profound 
The flesh shrunk, and the hair stood on end ; on me 
And on all, only to hear it, and to see. 

XLI. 

" And it said : * O people, daring more than any 
Of those who in the world have done great things ; 
You, who by cruel wars, such, and so many, 
And to vain labours, no repose ever bring : 
Since these forbidden limits now profane ye. 
And dare to navigate my long seas for kings. 
Which, during all the time I have guarded and held, 
No strange or native timber ever tilled. 

XLII. 

" 'And since ye come secrets to penetrate 
By nature hidden, and the humid element, 
ISI ever seen by any human hero yet 
Of noble or immortal temperament : 
Hear now from me the evils which must beset 
Such an excessively bold experiment. 
Throughout the extensive sea, also on the land, 
Which only by hard fighting can ye command, 

XLIII. 

" ' Know, that such ships as may hereafter engage 

In voyages like your's, and boldly persevere, 

Shall find this place inimical, — -in rage, 

With winds and tempests immeasurably severe. 

And the first armada, so efiecting passage 

Over waves still unaccustom'd ships to bear, 

Without any warning given, I shall chastise 

With damage more than mere peril of sea and skies. 



CANTO V. 131- 

XLIT. 

" ' Here I expect to take, if I am not mistaken, 
The highest vengeance on him who saw me first ; 
And not in this shall end the visitation 
On all who boldly to disturb me durst : 
Until ye shall see each year your ships forsaken 
(If my judgment in this matter I may trust), 
Shipwrecks, losses of all sorts, my waves beneath, 
"Whereof the least evil befalling shall be death. 

XLV. 

'* ' Andi to the first renowned by great success, 
Whose lofty fame shall reach unto the heavens, 
I shall be the new and eternal sepulchre for this. 
By judgments mysterious of Grod to make men even : 
Here will I sink the proud and glorious trophies 
From the brave Turkish armada bravely riven : 
To me shall they vengeful call against him who won 
And destroyed Q.uiloa — Mombasa left undone, (v 2.) 

XLVI, 

'' ' Another will also come of honoured fame,* {w 2) 
Liberal, a cavalier, and enamour' d too ; 
And with him he shall bring the beauteous dame, 
Whom Love as a favour shall give as to true love due : 
Sad misfortune and dark fate shall both of them claim : 
In this angry land of mine, which shall cast the two 
Erom a cruel shipwreck upon the shore alive, 
Expos' d to excessive hardships there to strive. 

XLVII, 

" ' They shall see of hunger die fche children dear, 
In so much love begotten, conceived, and born : 
They shall see the rough and greedy Caffres near. 
Take from the lovely dame her dress all torn : 
The crystalline limbs, that once so delicate were, 
To heat, to cold exposed, and weather-worn ; 
After having trod barefooted through the land 
With delicate feet upon the burning sand. 

* Don Emanuel de Souza : see Faria e Souza, V. 2. p, 528, 



132 THE LTJSIAD. 

XliYIII. 

" ' And yet more shall others see who shall escape 
Prom so much evil — from so much misadventure ; 
The same two miserable lovers, still imsafe, 
Shall the fervid implacable wild woods enter — 
There, after the very rocks shall soften with grief 
To tears, as if grief moved them to the centre, 
Lock'd in each other's arms, shall the two souls give way, 
And leave the beautiful unhappy clay.' 

XLIX. 

*' And more had said the monster so tremendous, 
Telling our fates, when I, rising a little higher, 
Said to it : Who art thou, who with this stupendous 
Eody, hast certainly made me much admire ? 
"With mouth and dark eyes writhing as he would end us, 
And heaving a great and terrible roar or sigh, 
He answered with heavy voice, of grief tenacious, 
As one to whom the inquiry was vexatious. 



" ' I am that great and hidden Cape of the earth, 
To whom ye give the name of Tormentorius ; 
Who never to Ptolemy, Pomponius, Strabo hath, 
Or to Pliny, or any before them, been notorious. 
Here all the African coast ends (or rather doth 
Turn round) in this my never seen Promontory, 
Which into the Antarctic clime extends. 
And whom thy daring boldness so much offends. 

LI. 

" ' I was one of Terra's sons the most severe, 

Like Enceladus, Egeus, and Centimanus : 

I was called Adamaster, and Avas in the war 

' G-ainst him who vibrates the bright rays of Yulcanus 

'Not that I piled mount on mount — I was rather for 

Conquering the huge waves of old Oceanus, 

I was Captain of the sea, by which was brought 

The armada of Neptunus, which I sought. 



CANTO r. 133 



LII. 



" ' Love for tlie lofty spouse to Peleus given 

Made upon me so powerful an impression, 

That I despised all the goddesses of Heaven 

Onlj for love of the Princess of waters. This one 

One day I saw, with daughters of ISTereus seven, 

Come out naked on the shore, and with strong passion 

I instantly was struck, in manner such, 

That even till now there is nought I love so much. 

LIII. 

" ' As it was quite impossible to get at her 

From the enormous ugliness of my gesture, 

I was determined by force of arms to take her, 

And to Doris went, and my hard case confess' d to her.* 

From fear the Groddess at length for me bespake her ; 

But she, with a lovely, honest laugh, this to her 

Eeplied : I wonder what would be love sufficient 

In a ^ymph that should sustain that of a Griant ? 

LIV, 

" ' However, that we may deliver Ocean from 

So gTeat a war, I shall try to find out how 

I can honourably excuse the mighty wrong. 

Such the answer returned by the messenger. Now 

I, who thought it no objection to be strong, 

(How great is the blindness of lovers this may show) 

Felt my heart filled only with sensations 

Of desire, of hope, and joyous expectations ! 

LY. 

" ' Now I grew foolish — now from war desisting — 
One night, by Doris promised, I beheld 
The lovely form and gesture at a distance 
Of Thetis fair, alone and unapparelled : 
Like a madman I ran, wide opening at once 
The arms, though still afar from what excelled 
This body, but was its life, and commenced to kiss 
The beauteous eyes, and lovely locks and face. 

* Doris, the sister and spouse of Nereus, aud mother of the Nereids. 



134 THE LTJSIAD. 

LYI, 

" ' Oil I know not how for disgust the tale to tell ! 
That, believing I held her I loved in my embrace, 
I found within my arms an obdurate hill ! 
Standing before me a huge rock face to face, 
With wild bushes, and sharp briars, and woody dell, 
"Which I for the angelic form did press ! 
I was no longer man ; no, but mute and quiet, 
And, joined to one rock, stood there, another by it. 

LYII. 

" ' Nymph of Ocean most surpassing fair : 

Now that I learn my presence cannot please, 

What tempted thee to take me in this snare, 

Or was it a mountain, cloud, dream, or none of these ? 

Here I parted angry, almost mad with despair, 

Erom grief, and from dishonour of those seas. 

To seek another world, another home, 

Where none to laugh at my tears should ever come. 

LYIII, 

*' * About this time my brothers were overcome. 

And in very extreme misery were placed. 

And, for more security to the vain gods, some 

Under various mountains were made fast : 

And as against Heaven with hands men need not come, 

I who went about weeping my disgust, 

Began to feel the inimical fate, 

For my daring attempts, the punishment great. 

LIX. 

" ' They metamorphosed my soft flesh into hard earth, 

And into rocks they turned all my bones : 

These limbs thou seest, and this figure, I had at birth, 

They extended over these waters far and long : 

In short, my gigantic stature they cast forth 

And turned into this remote Cape of earth and stones, 

The Gods ; and that all my sorrows should be doubled, 

Thetis surrounds me with these waters troubled.' 



CANTO T. 



LX. 



135 



" Thus lie spoke, and with a most frightful weeping, 
Suddenly from before our eyes he disappeared ; 
The dark cloud undid itself, and then a sweeping 
Loud roar along the sea was to far distance heard, 
I, raising my hands to the holy choir in whose keeping 
Of angels we had been guided so long and spared, 
To God I prayed, that He would remove the severe 
Events that Adamaster did still to come declare, 

LXI. 

" Now Phlegon and Pyrois came on drawing 

With the other two the car of radiant day, 

When high land appeared upon the horizon, shewing 

Into what had been converted the Griant fay. 

Along this coast, commencing and now going 

To cut through waves of the East, the unknown way ; 

A little lower we stood in towards the strand, 

Where for the second time we put to land.* 

LXII, 

" The people who this territory held here, 

Although all Ethiopians they seemed to be, 

More human in their behaviour did appear, 

Than those who had received us so treacherously. 

With dancing and with merriment and good cheer, 

Along the sandy shore they came with glee ; 

The women with them, and the quiet herd, 

Which fed beside them, were fat, and seemed well reared. 

LXIII. 

" The scorched women forward came upon 
The slow-going bullocks, at ease seated on them ; 
Animals which they set more value on 
Than all the other cattle belonging to them : 
Chants, either in prose or rhyme, of pastoral tone. 
They sing in their language in a concert song then, 
With the sweet sound of rustic pipe we admire as 
Eesembling the rural ditties of Tityrus. 

* Bahia de Sao Braz, 70 leag-ues from the Cape. 



136 THE LTJSIAD. 

LXIV. 

" These, wlien we ourselves presented, forward came 
Humanely to entertain us, and bringing down 
Poultry, and plenty of beef quite fresh, and game, 
In exchange for some few articles of our own ; 
But as none of my companions could learn from them, 
Or a single word of our language could make known, 
Or by any signs could what we sought explain ; 
"We loosened sails, and the anchors raised again. 

LXV. 

" Now here we found we had given a great wheel round 
The dark coast of Africa, and thereupon turned 
The prow to prosecute, if there it could be found, 
The Antarctic region, and where mid-heaven burned : 
That island we had at length proceeded beyond 
First seen by another armada which had returned 
From seeking Cape Tormentorio to discover. 
But in that island marked their last endeavour.* 

LXYI. 

" From thence cutting through the waters many days, 

Both amongst annoying tempests, and calm seas ; 

In the large ocean making out new ways, 

Gruided only by arduous expectancies : 

At one time with the sea striving, when it displays 

Forces shewing how very changeable it is. 

When we met a current which such resistance made. 

That it would not suffer us to go a-head. 

LXTII. 

" The force opposed to us was in excess, 

And therefore took us backward with the sea, 

Which against us ran so strongly there that less 

Force was in the wind, than was found in the waves to be ? 

The south wind so highly offended with the stress 

Of the Waters against him, it appeared that he 

Angrily increased the gales, until we went 

With force enough to conquer the great current.f 

*.A small island named Santa Cruz by Bartliolomew Diaz, who 
discovered it. According to Faria y Souza, he went twenty-five 
leag-ues further, to the river Del Infante, which, till past by Gama, was 
the utmost extent of Portuguese discoveries. 

t It was the force of this rushing- current winch retarded the 
further discoveries of Diaz, 



CANTO Y. 137 



LXYIII. 

"At lengtli the sun brouglit that celebrated day, 

On which three Kings from various parts of the East 

Came to look for a King, whefe they found an infant lay, 

In which King other three united are expressed ; 

This day another port was taken in our way 

By us, from the same people as the rest. 

In a large river, to which we gave the name 

Of the day on which we first put . into the same. 

LXIX. 

" From these people we some refreshment took. 

And from the fresh river, water ; but they were all 

To inquiries about India almost mute. 

To these people, as the others, in vain we call : 

And now, King ! at how much land did we not look, 

Without gaining any intelligence at all ; 

From these rude people ; or without seeing the least 

Indication of the far regions of the East ! 

LXX. 

*' Imagine now what poor miserables 

We must have all been then, how lost, how worn ; 

By hunger, by tempests broken and disabled ; 

By climates, and by long striving with seas unknown : 

And with long expectation our fatigue doubled, 

So as to be driven for rest to despair alone, 

By skies not natural, being of a quality 

Inimical to our lot of humanity. 

LXXI. 

" Decayed now and damaged the provisions, 

Hurtful and bad for the frail human frame, 

And, besides this, no contentment from our mission, 

As if our expectation had been vain. 

Think' st thou that if a joint armada like this one 

Of soldiers had not been Lusitanian ? What then ? 

Would it have remained so long so obedient. 

By chance, either to its King or to its Eegent ? 



138 THE LUSIAD. 



LXXII. 



" Think' st thou, that ere this they had not shewn vexation 

Against their Captain, if they had been opposed, 

Becoming pirates, out of desperation 

Prom hunger, and from irritation, if they chose ? 

Greatly indeed have they undergone probation, 

Since to any labour, however hard, each goes 

With that exalted excellence, Portuguese, 

Of loyalty firm, valour and contempt of ease, (a? 2) 

LXXITI. 

" Leaving the port of the fresh- water river, 
And turning to pursue our way o'er the salt-sea, 
By standing outwards, we did then endeavour 
To keep the shore at a distance not land-locked to be ; 
Because the south blowing soft and cold, we might never 
Have made head against the waters of the bay, 
"Which the coast there forms far in towards that land, 
Where the rich .Sofala doth the gold command. 

LXXIY. 

" This having passed, the light helm soon steers in shore, 
The helm to holy Saint Nicholas recommended, 
To where the sea chafes, and the loud breakers roar, 
The prows inclining according as the shore trended. 
When the heart which yet withhope, against doubt up bore, 
And which so much on a frail plank depended ; 
Of what it hoped beginning to despair, 
Was by a new novelty delighted there. 

LXXV. 

" And it was, that being now to the coast quite close. 
Where the shores and valleys were very plainly seen, 
In a river, which to the open sea out-flows, 
We saw boats under sail coming out, and going in. 
Great happiness this sight was to us. Heaven knows ! 
To find at length inhabitants who did begin 
Navigation ; because amongst them we did hope 
To obtain some news albeit from the Ethiope. 



CANTO V. 



LXXA^I. 



139 



" Ethiopians they were all, but it appeared 
That with better people they communicated : 
Some Arabic words there certainly were heard, 
As in their own language they themselves debated : 
Their heads were bound with clotb, from cotton prepared, 
"Woven narrow, and they were decorated 
By another round the middle, of colour blue, 
Covering what decency conceals from view. 

LXXVII. 

" In the Arabic language, w^hich they spoke not well, 
And which Fernan Martinez well understands, 
They said that with ships, that ours did not excel. 
Their sea is navigated as far as it extends ; 
But that there, where the sun comes out, they sail. 
Where the coast extends and to the southward trends. 
And from the southward to the sun is land where dwells 
A people of a colour like ourselves, {y 2) 

LXXVIII. 

" G-reatly delighted were we with the people here, 
And with the news we had from them still more : 
"With this news all of us so delighted were, 
* Grood signs,' is the name given by us to that shore : 
We raised upon that land a monument there ; {z 2) 
Some of which to mark our steps we with us bore : 
The name this bears is that of San E-aphael, 
The heavenly guide of Tobias to Gabell. 

LXXIX. 

" Here from the limpets, cascas and small shells, 
Nauseous creation of the waters deep, 
We cleansed the ships' bottoms, which in our long spells 
On ocean-waves, at all clean we could not keep. 
Erom our hosts who quite neighbourly did dwell, 
And to their signs agreeable and jocund keep, 
We always received the usual maintenance. 
Quite clean from all suspicion or false pretence. 



140 THE LTJSIAB. 

LXXX. 

*' But the great and well-founded expectations, raised, 

"Were not all unmixed with evil, or so pure, 

Nor our joy so perfect, nor Eliamnusius so pleased,* 

But that some misadventure was to follow sure ; 

Thus the Heavens serene dispense, our joy is increased : 

"What time we have weightier evils to endure ; 

So the evils sent must be with firmness met, 

Too much good unmixed would change our nature yet. 

LXXXI. 

" And here it was that a cruel, ugly disease, 

More foul than I ever saw, deprived many 

Of life, who in such strange and foreign lands as these 

Were to lie in sepulchre, or perhaps not any. 

Who without seeing could believe there was such disease! 

Which so disfigured, and did accompany 

Swollen flesh, with rottenness of the jaws and mouth ; 

Yet this is actually nothing but the truth. 

LXXXII. 

" They rotted with a fetid' brutal smell, 
Which all the surrounding air infected so ; 
Yet we had no subtle physician who might tell, 
Still less an able chirurgeon, what we should do : 
But any one not in this office instructed well 
Eemoved the rotten flesh, by cutting it through, 
As if it had been dead ; and 'twas well done. 
For they were soon found dead, who kept it on. 

LXXXIII. 

" In short, in these wild thickets, unknown, obscure, 
We left those brave companions, alas ! for ever. 
Who in such a way, and in such misadventure, 
And in all adventures till now, had left us never. 
How ready for the body is sepulture ! 
Any sea-wave, any hill, is ample cover, 
And however foreign, just as well as our own, 
Will receive the most illustrious flesh and bone. 

* By Rhamnusius the poet means Nemesis, the Goddess of Justice, 
enemy to the proud and presumptuous. 



CA]!TTO V. 141 

LXXXIV, 

" Thus from this hayen we at length departed, 
With greater hope, and also much greater grief; 
And viewing the coast beyond, again we started, 
In search of some more certain haven of relief : 
In the rocky Mozambique at last we anchored, 
Of whose falsehood, and the villany of whose chief 
Thou must be aware, and of the tricks uncommon 
Of the people of Mombaca most inhuman. 

LXXXV, 

" Until that here within thy port secure, 
"Whose amenity and entertainment pleasant 
Would to the dead give life, health to the impure, 
We were brought by compassion of the high assent. 
Here of repose, sweet comfort — here of both made sure, 
New quietude of mind and sentiment 
Thou gayest. And think, if to thine attentive ear 
I have not related all thou didst desire to hear. 

LXXXVI. 

" Judge now, King ! if in the world ever went 
People who have entered upon such ways unknown ? 
Think' st thou, that either ^neas, or eloquent 
Ulysses, throughout the world to such lengths have gone ? 
Did any dare look at the profound deep's extent, 
Whatever was written in verse that they had done. 
As I have seen, by dint of arms and art. 
And of what I still must see, even one-eighth part ? 

LXXXYII. 

" This, who drank so deep of the fount Aonian — this, 

Whose birthplace alone contending cities would boast, 

Whether Smyrna, Chios, Colophon, Salamis, 

Or E-hodes, or Argos, or Athens, could claim him most : 

This other, who distinguishes Ausonia — this, 

Whose lofty voice divine cannot be lost. 

Whilst native Mincio hearing, more sweetly slumbers, 

And Tyber swells with pride at the lofty numbers. 



142 THE LUSIAD. 



liXXXYIII. 



" They sing, they praise, and write, ever in extreme? 
Their Demi-gods — they ampHfy, they arm, 
[Feigning Magi, Circes, monster Polyphemes, 
Syrens, who by their songs to sleep could charm ; 
They give sails, and oars, to navigate, to them, 
The Cicones, and to the country where the harm 
Of oblivion of friends, comes from eating lotus : 
They give them the loss of Pilot in the waters : 

LXXXIX. 

" Winds released they feign, as fancy they also would 
Odres ; and Calypsos, who were enamoured, warmed ; 
Harpies contaminated with their food ; 
Descents to the dark shades by men returned : 
That for much, and much that may be very good 
In these fables vain so well by dreams encharmed, 
The truth which I now recount naked and pure. 
Beats the whole of that grandiloquent obscure." 

xc. 

On the words of the Captain, brave and eloquent, 
And what they had heard, all hung intoxicated, 
When his narrative ended, to which they had lent 
A willing ear, about lofty deeds narrated. 
The Eang praised the sublime heart and warlike bent 
Of those kings in so many wars celebrated : 
He praised the ancient courage of the whole — 
The people's loyalty — nobility of soul. 

XCI. 

The natives go about, repeating what they heard — 

Each, the event which he had noticed most : 

None of them from off those people their eyes retired. 

Who in such long voyages had been so long tost. 

But now the youth Delius the reins pulled higher, 

Which the brother of Lampethusa guiding, lost, 

To come in Thetian arms to repose ; 

And the King from sea to his noble palace goes. 



CANTO V. 143 



XCII. 



How sweet is the general praise, and the just glory, 

Of one's own actions, when we hear them sounded ! 

Any noble labour, which may live in story 

To surpass or equal those on which fame is founded. 

The envies of the illustrious in history 

Thousand times have led to deeds that have astounded. 

Praise of others much incites, and perfect makes 

Whoever valorous labours undertakes. 

XCIII. 

'Twas not to equal Achilles' valour fierce 

That Alexander fought or glory desired, 

So much as to be famous in heroic verse ; 

This was his aim only — 'twas this his soul had fired ; 

And when Themistocles heard them rehearse 

Miltiades' great deeds and fame acquired, 

He was moved, 'tis said, by desire to imitate 

The deeds he heard such verses celebrate. 

XCIV. 

Vasco de Gama navigated, fought, 
To shew that voyages now sung in lofty strain, 
In point of glorious purpose were as nought, 
Compared with those around both land and main. 
Tes ; but that Hero whose approving thought 
"With gifts, honours, and high favour, did sustain 
The Mantuan lyre, was him who made the fame 
Of ^neas, and highest raised the Eoman name. 

XCY. 

The Lusitanian land gives Scipios, 

Caesars, Alexanders, and Augustuses too ; 

But it gives not even with such gifts as those 

That which makes the brave and bold do what they do. 

Octavius, mid cares of empire, could compose 

The lofty rhyme, learned, and to graceful nature true.. 

This taste had Anthony, as Pulvia knew, 

On his leaving her for Glaphyra, to be true. 



144 THE LTJSIAD. 



XCYI. 



Csesar went on subjugating tlie whole of France, 
And arms impeded not his march in science ; 
But with pen in one hand, and in t'other the lance, 
He equalled Cicero in eloquence, 
"What of Scipio they know, and still advance, 
Is that in the drama he had great experience : 
Alexander, Homer read, and got by heart, 
Until lofty thoughts were of himself a part. 

XCTII. 

In short, never was a brave captain known, 

Who was not also learned and scientific, 

Excepting only of the Portuguese alone. 

Of Lacian, Grecian, or barb'rous nation antique. 

I say it not without shame, and the reason own 

"Why no one has ever made lofty verses speak. 

Is that we see none, had we such rhyme, to prize it, 

Because those who the art know not, but despise it. 

XCYIII. 

Por this, and not from any fault of nature, 
We have not also had Yirgils, and Homers too ; 
Nor are likely to have, if such defect endure, 
Nor Pious ^neas, nor Achilles fierce and true. 
But the Avorst of all is, wanting fame's motive pure. 
They became so rough and austere,, who little knew, 
So obdurate, and in art and skill «o wrong, 
That multitudes produce neither deeds nor song. 

XCIX. 

WeU may our G-ama thank the tuneful muse — 

The sacred love of country which inspires 

The lofty strain, which ever fame renews 

To whosoever by great deeds to fame aspires : 

For neither he nor they, who that name stiU use, 

Calliope, as their patron or friend admires, 

Nor the Nymphs of Tagus so much, that they would leave 

To sing of them, the golden webs they weave. 



CAKTO Y, 145 



Because the love fraternal, and pure taste 
To give Lusitanian deeds tlieir praises due, 
Are but emanations from the glowing breast 
Of the lovely Tagides, still to glory true. 
Let no one from this ever relax the least 
"Whom glorious purpose inspires, that to pursue 
Through life or death uniiinching still the same : 
The Muses shall not forget his deathless name. 



OANTO VI. 



The Pagan King knew not how he could entertain 
Sufficiently the navigators brave, 
In hopes he might the friendship thereby gain 
Of the Christian King, of a powerful people grave : 
He was sorry that distance so far across the main 
Separated him from the abundant lands they have, 
And that chance, had not permitted him to be 
"Where Hercules opened a way into the sea. 

II. 

With sports, dances, and other merriment, 

According to the policy Melindane 

To customary merry fisheries they went, 

Even as the Lageian did Anthony retain : 

This famous King was every day as intent 

His Lusitanian company to entertain, 

"With banquets, and the most uncommon dishes. 

With fruits, fowls, flesh, and very curious fishes, {a 3) 

III. 

But the Captain, seeing that he now remained 
Longer than he ought, and that a fine fair wind 
Invited him quickly to part, as having obtained 
Pilots of the country ; provisions of good kind ; 
Would delay no longer ; as for him yet remained 
Much of salt silver, he was stiU to leave behind ; 
He took leave of the Pagan, who as they retired 
The lasting friendship of them aU desired. 



CAIfTO YI. 147 



IT. 



He also desired, that that haven might be, 
Always thereafter visited by their fleet ; 
Said there was no good he wished more ardently, 
Than to give such Barons his kingdom and estate ; 
And that as long as soul should with his body be, 
He should always be prepared for such a fate, 
To give life and kingdom totally for all time. 
To a King so good, and a people so sublime. (^ 3) 



Other words similar were responded to these 
By the Captain, and then loosening the sails, 
To seek the lands of Aurora, they take the seas 
They had sought so long for, and their spicy gales- 
In the Pilot they took now, there could not be 
Any falsehood, for he rather readily tells 
The true lines of navigation, which they explore 
Much more securely than ever they did before. 

YI. 

They navigate Oriental waves, thus ploughing 
Straight through the seas of India, and discover 
The nuptial bed of the sun, who rises glowing ; 
And now their ardent designs seem almost over. 
But th' ill-will of Thyonseus, who still knowing 
The results about to attend the bold endeavour 
Of the Lusitanian people, to their efforts owing, 
Burns and blasphemes, the rage of madman shewing* 

YIJx 

He saw all Heaven already had determined 
To make of the city of Lisbon another Eome : 
That he could not disturb, however much inclined, 
That which higher power had destined was to come. 
Prom Olympus he descends, with desperate mind : 
On earth new remedy to seek, and here was one : 
He enters the humid kingdom ; and seeks the Court 
Of him to whom falls that dominion, in this sort. 



148 THE LTJSIAD. 



Tin. 



In the most internal depths of the profound 

."Deep cayerns, wherein the sea retires and hides : 

There, whence the most powerful waves issue fury-bound, 

When to the angry winds respond the tides, 

Dwells JN'eptune : and there dwell also in jocund round 

"With the other goddesses of the sea, the Nereides, 

"Where the waters leave space enough for the cities, 

Inhabited by these watery deities. 

IX. 

The bottom there shews what the waters cover, 
Sands that whoUy consist of silver fine ; 
Lofty towers are seen the open fields looking over. 
Of single transparent masses crystalline. 
The nearer to this the dazzled eyes endeavour, 
The less the sight is able to determine, 
"Whether it be crystal or diamond that is seen, 
So glear it appears, so radiant doth it shine. 

X. 

The gates are of fine gold, and richly inlaid 

"With the seed-pearl that in the conch-shell grows, 

Of beauteous sculpture the other parts are made. 

On which angry Bacchus did his sight repose. 

And first he saw in colours varied 

The much confus'd face of old Chaos whom he knows : 

There also the four elements could be made out, 

As if various occupations they were about, 

XI. 

Sublimely there stood Eire aloft on high, 
"Who in no material could be held at all : 
IFrom this, living things still animated fly, 
Since that Prometheus, a portion thereof stole. 
Next the invisible Air sublime close by. 
Took its place quickly ; for nowhere, warm or cold, 
Eut some contains, never leaving a vacant spot 
Throughout the world entire, where air is not. 



CA.-NTO YI. 149 

XIT. 

The Earth was there in hills, in vestment clad 
Of Terdant herbs, and trees all clothed in blossom, 
Griving diverse pasture, giving life to and making glad 
The numerous flocks and herds bred in her bosom. 
And there the bright form the sculpture well displayed 
Of the Waters wandering, and life diffusing, 
Creating fishes of many various forms, 
Maintaining every body that life warms. 

2:111. 

In another part was sculptured out the war, 

"Which the great Grods had with the Giants stout : 

Typheus lay beneath the mountain roar 

Of Etna, from which crackling flames were breaking out. 

Sculptured was seen wounding earth to give us more, 

jSTeptune, when mankind then ignorant, got 

Erom him the war-horse, and did also receive 

Erom IMinerva first the peace-making olive. 

xiv. 

Little delay did angry Lyseus make. 

At sight of all these sculptures, but entering 

To the palace of Neptune, who some steps did take 

Being advised of his coming, him in to bring : 

He received him at the gates, and with him await 

The Nymphs, who were much surprised, and wondering 

To see taking such a road, why ? they could not divine, 

Down into the kingdom of waters, the King of wine ! 

XV. 

" Neptune 1" he said, " be not at aU surprised 

That in thy kingdoms Bacchus thou dost receive ; 

Eor, to the gTcat and powerful, as to the despised, 

Eortune unjust in her powers we may perceive : 

But call the Grods of the sea, and be advised 

Before I say more : if more thou wouldst hear or believe : 

They shall see what misfortune is about to befal : 

Let aU hear what, for the danger touches aU." 



150 THE LTJSIAD. 



XVI. 



Neptune, believing now that this must be 

A very strange case, immediately commands 

Triton, to summon the Grods of the cold sea, 

"Who dwell in the waters, to come in from both hands. 

Triton, whose glory was the son to be 

Of the King, and of Salacia a mother grand, 

Was a great youth, dark and ugly, but still 

His father's messenger, and trumpeter as well. 

XYII. 

The hairs of his beard, and eke the longer hair 
Prom his head to his shoulders falling, all alike were 
Tubes fall of water, and it did plainly appear 
No searching comb had ever been employed there. 
And in the pendant locks were seen beneath each ear 
The blackest muscles, in clusters, these locks did bear: 
On the head for a hat, he wore what fitted well 
A very large and spreading lobster shell. 

XTIII, 



The body naked, and the members genital, 

Not to be any impediment to swimming. 

Were covered with various sea- animals small. 

In hundreds and hundreds, covering and trimming, 

Shrimps and limpets, and others of that sort, all 

"Who, from Phoebus receive both increase and beginning, 

Oysters, and muscles foul, with moss o'ergrown, 

On his sides amongst shells of periwinkles hung. 

XIX. 

In his hand the large and twisted conch he bore, 
And vdth great force he now began to blow ; 
The loud and tuneful sound was heard all o'er 
The seas ; and long resounding shores avow. 
Now, having been all summoned by the loud roar. 
The Gods, to the palace hastening did go 
Of the Grod, who once set up the walls of Troy, 
Which Grreek insanity did afterwards destroy. 



CAlfTO YI. 151 

XX, 

Then with Father Ocean accompanying came 
The sons and daughters of his family, 
Nereus, to whom Doris was the lovely dame, 
And who with Nymphs had peopled the whole sea ; 
The prophet Proteus, leaving the herd maritime 
To browze by the saline water's verdant lea, 
"Was there to be seen attending, but now they know 
What was wanted with the sea by Eather Lyseo. 

XXI. 

Erom another quarter came the lovely spouse 
Of Neptune, daughter of Coelus, and of Yesta ;* 
G-rave, of easy motion, and so beauteous, 
That the very sea, out of admiration rested : 
Dressed in a chemise so very precious 
With which transparent veil she was so invested, 
That all the crystalline body could be seen : 
So much really fine was never made to screen, 

XXII. 

Amphitrite, beautiful as are the flowers, 
In this case did not choose to disobey ; 
Bringing the dolphin with her, who the amours 
Of the King had advised her not to turn away. 
With eyes, which over all exercise their powers. 
Any one might see that even the sun she could sway ;_ 
They came hand in hand ; an equal party invited ; 
As both together are to one united. 

XXIII. 

She, who from the fury of Athamas, when flying, (c 3) 
Pound herself raised into a state divine. 
With her she brought her son, a graceful scion, 
Accounted with the Gods, and of their line. 
Along the shore he came frisking and prying 
Into the beautiful small shells, that the salt brine 
Always creates, and which fair Panope will take 
Sometimes from the sands to place about her neck. 

* Tethys. 



152 THE LrSIAD. 

XXIV. 

And tlie Grod who was at one time a tuman body, (dS) 

And who by virtue of the herb of power 

Was transformed into a fish, then to a God, he 

A glorious Deity was from that hour ; 

Then came, still weeping the foul change of body 

By which Circe did the beautiful Scylla lower, 

"Whom she loved, and by whom she also was beloved ; 

Love badly employed, oft worse than hate has proved. 

xxy. 

At length all being there assembled and seated 

In the great hall, noble and divine their air, 

The goddesses on rich dais elevated. 

The gods each on a crystal throne or chair ; 

They were all by the Father congratulated, , 

Whose seat with that of the Theban was on a par : 

The hall is filled with the rich perfumes of the mace 

Produced in the sea, which Arabia's far surpass. 

XXVI. 

The tumult of the assembled gods being stiUed, 
And the ceremonies ended of reception, 
Thyoneus began to make known what had filled 
His hidden breast with so much evil perception ; 
Somewhat more gTavely he his visage held. 
Giving the expression of great apprehension, 
Only to give the Lusians miserable death 
With hostile iron ; thus he employed his breath. 

XXTII. 

" Prince, who of just right, art Lord supreme, 
Prom pole to pole over the raging seas ; 
Thou, who o'er all people on earth dost hold the rein, 
That they shall not pass the limited degrees : 
And thou, Pather Ocean, with th' encircling main 
The universal world confin'st to these ; 
And according to just decree thus dost limit 
Each to its proper place, to live within it. 



CANTO YI. 153 

XXVIII. 

" And ye, Gods of the sea, wlio suffer not 
Any injury within your kingdom grand. 
That ye do not avenge equally as ye ought 
Whoever they be who overrun sea and land : 
What carelessness is this of which ye take no note ? 
Who can it be who has made so very bland 
All hearts, so endowed with reason and wisdom old, 
Towards these mortals so weak and yet so bold ? 

XXIX. 

" Te have seen, that with boldness quite unparalleled 
They have already attacked the Heaven supreme ; 
Ye have seen them by insane fancy still impell'd 
To attempt the sea with efforts most extreme : 
Every day still ye may see, as ye have beheld. 
Proud and insolent attempts, such that it doth seem 
That of sea and heaven we shall soon be seeing 
Them become the gods, and we the human beings. 



" Te now may see that feeble generation. 
Which of one of my vassals doth take the name, 
With haughty, and most daring penetration, 
You, me, and all the world will put to shame. 
Ye see, that onward still that little nation. 
Through seas advances to surpass e'en Boman fame 
Ye perceive it, your whole kingdom devastating, 
Your statutes disregarding and violating. 

XXXI. 

" I saw, when those against the Mynias going. 
Such way across your kingdom opened first. 
The injured Boreas and companions blowing 
All kind of resistance that they could or durst : 
Now if to that combined expedition doing 
This mischief, the winds together thereon burst. 
You, to whom competent vengeance more belongs, 
What hope ye ? Who the day for this prolongs ? 

H 2 



154* THE LrSIAD. 



XXXII. 



" And I do not admit, Grods, that ye sliould believe 
That for your sakes from heaven I -have descended ; 
Nor that the sense of injury is to grieve 
Ton more than it has me already offended : 
Those great honoiu's, which in the East I did achieve 
As ye all know, when I successfully contended 
Against the Orient Indian regions glowing, 
Are all abated by people now there going. 

XXXIII. 

" The great Lord of all, and the Fates that all destine, 
As it is but well apparent, the lower world, 
Grreater fame than they ever had they now design 
To give to these Barons at sea with flag unfurled : 
In this behold, O Gods ! how plainly is seen 
The evil as it affects gods, now lower hurled 
To a second place : They must see, none are less strong 
Than they, to whom with more reason, strength should 
belong, 

XXXIY. 

" And for this I have from Olympus hastened down. 
To seek some remedy my great distress to ease. 
To see if what I lose in heaven of my own, 
I may perchance here recover amongst your seas, 
But I wished to say — " Beyond this he had not gone, 
When with tears flowing down in pairs, his words did cease, 
They leapt from the eyes, which to his heart's desire 
Inflamed the deities of water into fire. 

XXXV. 

The anger with which so suddenly was changed 
The hearts of the Gods was on a very nice point. 
Admitting no more counsel well arranged, 
Diffuse discussion, nor decision joint. 
At once to great Eolus an order strange 
Was sent on the part of Neptune, that did appoint 
The Euries to see all contending winds unbound. 
Until at sea no navigators should be found. 



CANTO YI. 155 



XXXVI. 



Not but that Proteus was very desirous there 

To say in this discussion what he thought ; 

And, as to the others there it did appear, 

Some prophecy profound had forth been brought. 

But so great arose the mighty tumult where 

The divine assembly such decree sent out, 

That Tethys quite indignantly ended 

His speech ; saying, Neptune knew what he commanded. 

XXXVII, 

And now the proud Hypotades let loose 
From prison, where they were lockt up, the furious winds j 
And with encouraging words he slips the noose, 
As against the audacious barons these he sends. 
Suddenly the heavens serene, dark clouds confuse. 
Which these, winds more impetuous than ever, rend : 
New forces they assume ; they begin to resound ; 
Towers, rocks, and houses, throwing to the ground. 

XXXVIII. 

"Whilst this assembly had been in consultation 
In the watery depth, the merry going fleet 
Continued with quiet winds on its destination 
Through the tranquil sea, the long route to complete. 
'Twas at that time when day's illumination 
Did from the eastern hemisphere retreat ; 
Those from the quarter of the first had gone to sleep, 
Having called the others up, second watch to keep. 

XXXIX, 

Quite overcome with sleep, but half awake 

And yawning, they were lying near the yard. 

All badly covered, unable better defence to make 

Against the sharp airs that blew more keen than hard. 

The eyes against the inclination still awake. 

But, from rubbing them, the fingers were almost tired z 

Eemedies against sleep they wish to find ; 

Stories they relate, and a thousand call to mind. 



156 THE LIJStAD. 

XL. 

" "Witli wliat could we better pass this time," said one, 
" That hangs so heavily on onr hands just now, 
Than with some merry, pleasant tale of times by-gone, 
Wherewith we may the heavy load of sleep o'erthrow ?" 
Beplied Leonardo, who out of love for one 
Preserved that firm sentiment lovers do : 
" What tales can we have better than those of love 
To pass the time, or that can more useful prove ?" 

XLI. 

" 'Tis not," said YeUoso, " as I think, very just 
To broach such soft subjects, amidst such rough toil ; 
The labours at sea, which of late so much have cost, 
Admit neither of amours nor dedicate smiles; 
But rather of war, fervid and robust. 
Let our stories be, for amid such wiles 
Is our life to be passed, as far as I can know, 
So let our tales accord with what we undergo." 

XLII. 

AH agree to this, and all then recommend 

Yelloso, to tell the tale he did most approve. 

" I will relate," said he, " what none can reprehend 

Either as new, or fabulous, or of love. 

And that those who shall hear me may comprehend 

Here, how fit they for such lofty deeds may prove, 

I shall speak of those born in our own land ; 

And these shall be the twelve of merry England. 

XLIII. 

^' In that time when the light reins of power were held 
By John, the son of Peter in Portugal ; 
After being united and free, they had expelled 
The adjacent power that would have held it in thrall ; 
There in great England, where the snow congealed 
With Boreal ice abounds, there did befal 
Pierce and foul discord, sown by wild Erycina, 
Which added lustre to our Lusitania. 



CANTO YT. 157 



XLIY. 

" Amongst tlie ladies of tlie English Court, 

And noble courtiers, it occurred one day 

There arose fierce discord of an angry sort ; 

Either from strife or opinion, as some say. 

The courtiers, to whom it seemed but matter of sport 

To throw out gTave and bold words, though but in play, 

Said : They could prove, that the honours and fames 

Of certain dames, should not belong to dames. 

XLY. 

" And, that if any one with lance and sword 

Was willing to support these ladies' part, 

That they, in open course or ring, would prove their word. 

And cover them with infamy, or pierce his heart. 

The feminine weakness never having endured 

Slander opprobrious, and being devoid of art. 

Or of natural strength, convenient to such ends. 

Succour requested from parents, and from friends. 

XLYI. 

" And as the enemies great and powerful were 
In the kingdom, none so daring could be found, 
Neither parents nor ardent lovers, who could there 
Maintain the cause of the dames, as in duty bound ; 
With beauties' tears, and of these a sufficient share. 
To bring to their succour the Grods themselves around 
From the whole heaven, for faces of alabaster, 
The whole of them went to the Duke of Alencaster.* 

XLYII. 

" This Englishman was powerful, and had campaign' d 
With the Portuguese already against Castille, 
Where their mag-nanimous courage then had gained 
Eor his companions, golden opinions and good will, 
Not less than in this land, where were maintained 
Amorous affections, well proved when there they still 
The daughter saw, who so much the heart had stricken 
Of the brave King, that for his wife she was taken. 

* Anqlice Lancaster. 



158 THE LirsIAD. 

XLYIII. 

" This Duke, wlio to succour tliero was not inclined, 
That he might not occasion discords intestine, 
Said to them : ' When my right I first maintained 
To the kingdom there in the land Iberian, (e 3) 
Such was the valour of our Lusitanian friends, 
So much skill in arms, and talents so divine, 
That these alone could, I think, upon my word, 
Support your cause bravely with fire and sword. 

XLIX. 

" And if, off'ended dames, ye should think fit, 

In your behalf, I will embassadors send, 

Carrying letters polite, which shall be writ, 

By which all shall be made your wrongs to comprehend. 

Also, on your own parts, strongly pressing it 

"With words of caresses and love, so as to blend 

These with your tears, that I am sure you may 

Find succour there, and ample support and stay. 



" In this way they were advised by the Duke expert, 
And then he mentioned to them twelve brave men : 
And that each dame might have a champion alert, 
He bade them draw lots as to whom each should complain : 
They are only twelve : and when they could insert 
In the list for each name a corresponding dame, 
Each should write her champion, and for succour call 
As she could : all to their King ; and the Duke to all. 

LI. 

" And now in Portugal the messenger arrives, 
All the Court was delighted with the novelty : 
The King sublime, to be the first desires, 
But this was not allowed to lofty royalty. 
Each of the adventurous courtiers aspires 
With fervid wiU, a lady's champion to be ; 
And it was fortunate (so many forward came,) 
That they alone should go whom the Duke did name. 



CAITTO TI. 159 

LII» 

" There in the loyal city, whence first arose 
The origin (says fame) of the eternal name 
Of Portugal,* for a swift ship the order goes 
From him who held the government of the same. 
The twelve prepare in a very short time, and chose 
Cloaks and arms of the most modern nse and aim, 
Helmets, crests, mottoes, and well-bred and well-paced 
Horses, with housings of a thousand colours graced. - 

LIII. 

" Now from their King they leave and license took, 
Before sailing from the Douro celebrated, 
Those who, being chosen by the English Duke, 
"Were expressly to the ladies dedicated. 
Yery well matched all the company look, 
No cavaher more dextrous, or vahant rated ; 
Saving one only, MagTi9o by name, and he 
In these terms spoke to the brave company. (/3) 

LIT. 

" ' I have desired. My associates courageous, 

For a long time to travel in countries strange, 

To see more rivers than the Douro, and Tagus, 

And to observe how people, laws, and customs change. 

Now that I see all things are ready to take us, 

(Since to see the world it may be so arranged) 

I would, if ye permit me, go by land alone. 

That I may you again in England join. 

LT. 

" ' And were it to happen, that I, disappointed 
By causes unforeseen, might not travel so fast ; 
And should not be ^vith you at the place appointed. 
Little want would my absence make to you at last. 
All will for me do what may of me be wanted ; 
But if the truth, a soul may venture to forecast, 
Nor rivers, mountains, nor fortune shall impede me, 
Erom coming there, in good time to be with ye.' 

* Oporto. 



160 THE LTJSIAD. 

LVI. 

"Thus lie spoke, and after parting embraces, 
And leave being taken, lie at length departed : 
Passing through Leon, Castille, the ancient places, 
Seeing, that were regained by the patriot-hearted : 
Navarre, vdth the high and perilous passes 
Pyrenean, which Spain and Grallia parted ; 
Seeing, at length, all Prance, through which he wanders, 
He halts in the great emporium of Planders. 

LYII. 

" There, whether by chance or inclination given, 
Not to pass on ; he continued many days, 
But the illustrious company of the eleven, 
Cuts through the sea of the north the frosty waves, 
Arrived at the strange coast of England, which leaving, 
Por London they set out without any delay : 
By the Duke they were received, congratulated, 
And by the dames attended and animated. 

iTiii. 

" At length came the time, and the day determined on 
Por entering the lists against the English twelve, 
"Who by the King had now been called upon : 
And vdth helmets, greaves and harness armed themselves 
Now for the dames the refulgent armour shone, 
And the fiery Mars of the Portuguese looked weU : 
The dames dressed themselves in silks, of colours gay, 
"Wearing gold, and thousands of jewels, for the fray.* 

LIX. 

" But she, for whom by lottery was claimed 

MagriQo, who came not, was in mourning di-essed, 

Because she had not him who had been named 

To be her champion in this contest. 

Although the eleven proclaimed that still the same, 

By them the affair should be settled, and attest 

To the English Coin't, that the dames should victors be. 

Although their number should even want two or three. 



CAI^TO YI. 161 



LX. 



" Now in a lofty theatre canopied o'er, 
The English king took his seat with all his Court : 
They were seated three and three, and four and four, 
Just as rank and grace with space could best consort. 
The sun between Tagus and Bactrus, sees not more 
Animated forces, or of more noble port, 
Than in the twelve English coming out he sees 
To the field against the eleven Portuguese. 

LXI. 

" The foaming horses bit the golden reins, 
Eerocious as if cheT\T[ng lightning beaming : 
The sun amongst the glittering armour shines 
Like crystal, or the rigid diamond gleaming. 
But they discover between the different lines 
The party dissonant, and unequal seeming. 
Eleven agamst twelve, when the people withoutj 
Grreatly transported, raised a general shout. 

IXII. 

" All turned their faces anxious to see 

The principal cause of the tumultuous noise : 

And there came a Cavalier, armed cap-a-pie, 

On horseback, ready for the high emprise : 

To the King and the dames he spoke, and when turned he 

To the eleven, Magriyo stood before their eyes : 

As old friends then his companions he embraced. 

Whom not to fail in the fray he had joined in haste. 

LXIII. 

" The dame, when she heard that this was the true kniglit 
Who came to defend her honour and good name, 
Eejoiced, and dressed herself in Helle's fleece so bright, 
AVhich the base love even more than virtue or fame. 
jN'ow signal is given, trumpets proclaim the fight, 
The sounds that ever belligerent souls inflame : 
They spur their steeds, at once the reins enlarge, 
Their lances couch, and furiously charge. 



1G2 THE LUSIAD, 



LXIY. 

" The stunnitig noise the horses made, appeared 

To make the earth that was underneath them tremble : 

The heart quaked in their breast, who saw, rejoiced and 

feared : 
"Whose hope and fear they could not then dissemble ; 
One from his horse flies off when the horse upreared ; 
Another prostrate on earth doth earth resemble, 
One the shining armour with vermilion dyes : 
One falling back flogs with his plumes his horse's thighs. 

XXV. 

" Some of them there took their perpetual sleep, 
And made 'twixt life and its close, a passage faster : 
Some horses without their masters about did leap, 
In another part without horse was seen the master : 
The proud English dame now quits her throne so steep, 
And two or three quit the scene of so much disaster : 
Those who came with sword in battle to assail, 
Metsomethingmoreherethan mere harness shield and mail, 

LXYI. 

" To expend words in telling to what extremes 
rierceblows, cruel tiltingjthrusts sent through and through 
Were given, were but to waste on fabulous dreams 
That time, the value of which we all well know : 
Suffice it to tell, for him who prowess esteems, 
That with gallantry and renown it ended so. 
That with ours rested the palm of victory, 
And that the dames were conquerors, and with glory. 

liXYII. 

" The Duke the twelve victorious did receive 
In his palace with festival and merriment ; 
Cooks were employed, and hunting parties he gave, 
To which the beauteous dames all gaily went ; 
Who would have given to their deliverers brave 
Banquets, a thousand each hour, and each day meant. 
So long as they in England should remain. 
Until they returned to their own dear land again. 



CANTO VI. 163 



LXVIII. 



" But, 'tis said, that with all, the great Magri90, 
Desirous still to see whatever was great, 
Remained behind, where he rendered good service to 
The Countess of Flanders in a similar feat : {g 3) 
And as one who was not now any novice to 
Such enterprises, as thou, O Mars, dost create, 
A Frenchman he slew in the field ; destiny rare 
Of Torquatus, and Corvinus, befel him there, {h 3) 

LXTX. 

" Another besides of the twelve, into Germany 
Threw himself, and had in that country a fierce fight 
"With a deceitful German, who without any 
Good reason chose to place him in that hard plight." 
While Yelloso went on thus, the ship's company 
Begged that he would not from his story deviate 
In the case of Magrigo, and the overthrown, 
Nor that of Germany leave in oblivion. 

XXX. 

But being in this way, awake and ready. 
Behold the Master, who his eye had on the clouds, 
Sounds the whistle, and quick start up rather heavy 
The mariners on either side of the shrouds. 
And as the wind was freshening very steady. 
He ordered all the foresails to be stowed. 
"Alert," he said, "look sharp, the wind increases. 
From that dark cloud there right before our faces." 

LXXI. 

The foresails had not well been stowed before 

There suddenly arose a violent storm : 

" Luff," said the Master, with a very loud roar. 

" Eeef,"he said, "strike that mainsail, put it out of harm." 

The indignant winds did not wait till sails were lower : 

But jointly into them dash — at once they are torn 

Into small pieces, with such a furious noise, 

As if the tempest the whole world destroys. 



164 THE LTJSIAD. 



LXXII. 



To tlie Heavens cry the people at this uproar, 

With sudden terror, and quite out of their wits, 

For, not having taken in the sail before. 

On board a vast quantity of water gets, 

" Overboard," said the Master, with sturdy roar^ 

" Throw everything !" all obey and everything quits : 

Others run to the pump, and do not leave 

Pumping, while the decks are covered with the wave. 

LXXIII. 

The soldiers thereupon bravely sprung 

To work the pumps, but the formidable seas 

O'er-balanced the ship, and they no sooner begun 

Than they were thrown down, and ropes were obliged to 

seize : 
Throe mariners, very hardy, powerful, and strong, 
Were not enough to guide the helm ; for these 
By its blows were tossed about from side to side, 
The force of man having no longer power to guide. 

LXXIV. 

The winds were so very strong that we could no more 

Eesist their impetus ; were no more able, 

Than if these winds had been expressly sent to lower 

The lofty and aspiring tower of Babel ; 

In the very high seas, increasing every hour, 

The little size of a boat resembled well 

The powerful vessel, which surprised us all. 

To see her on such waves afloat at all. 

LXXY. 

The large vessel, in which was Grama's brother Paul, 

Carried away her main-mast by the board ; 

The men on board almost overwhelm' d call 

To Him who to save the world came, our blessed Lord. 

Not less vain cries, to the wild air they bawl, 

All to the ship of Coelho, aid to afford, 

WTiereof the Master had had the presence of mind 

To lower the sails before came on the wind. 



ca:n'to VI. 165 



LXXYI. 



And now aloft npon the clouds ascended 

The waves of Neptune, each with mighty bound : 

And again as low it seemed that they descended 

To deepest hidden recesses of the profound. 

North, south, east, west winds at the same time contended. 

The machinery of the world to confound : 

Dark night, and foul, was only lighted by 

Those rays which seemed to set on fire the sky. 

LXXVII. 

The Haley onian birds sad chorus keeping, (i B) 

Close to the dangerous rocky coast arose, 

They remember long their former wretched weeping, 

Of which, the furious waters were the cause. 

Of th' enamoured dolphins who before were sleeping, 

Eacb down inta-^fcfee maritime caverns goes, 

Mying from the furious winds, and tempest obscure, 

^Vliich, not even at the bottom, leave them secure. 

LXXVIII. 

Such vivid rays were never fulminated 
Against the furious arrogance of the Griants, 
By the great Blacksmith sordid who fabricated 
The radiant arms of his son-in-law compliant. 
The G-reat Thunderer himself never ignited 
Such lightnings to hurtle among dark clouds flying, 
At the great deluge, whence the two living ones 
Escaped — who into people transform' d stones.* 

LXXIX. 

How many mountains then were burled down 
By the waves, boldly up against them thrust ! 
How many old trees were rooted up, and thrown 
By th' indignant fury of wild winds, tempest tost ! 
The earth-bound roots so strong, that long had grown 
So deep, to be by Heaven seen at last ! 
And the deep sands that sought the tranquil shore, 
By the sea to be cast on high, unseen before. 

* Deucalion, a son of Prometheus, and his wife Pyrrha. See Ovid. 
Met. i. fab. 8. 



166 THE LIJSIAD. 

LXXX. 

Yasco de Grama, perceiving so very near ■ - 

Such termination to his hopes and wishes ; 
Seeing the sea for them infernal depths prepare, 
"Which again as high his ships to Heaven tosses ; 
Confused, uncertain about this life of care, 
Wherein each measure he tries meets only crosses, 
Calls alond upon that holy remedy, strong. 
That can the impossible do, and in this tone. 

LXXXI, 

" Gruardian Celestial, Divine, Angelic, thou 
"Who the heavens, sea, and land, dost ahke command 5 
Who to all Israel gav'st refuge, and guidedst through 
The Erythrean waters — out upon dry land : 
Thou, who didst Paul deliver, and defend him too 
Erom the sandy Syrtes, and from the wild waves grand, 
And when o'er all earth diluvial Waves uncurl' d, 
Gruidedst the second peopler of a vacant world. 

LXXXII, 

" If I have passed new dangers perilous 
Of another Sylla and Charybdis now, 
Other Syrtes, and other shoals arenaceous, 
Acroceraunia that no shipwrecks know : * 
At the end of so many labours so audacious, 
"Why unprotected by thee must we go, 
If this our labour doth offend thee not. 
But is rather meant to serve thee as we ought ? 

LXXXIII* 

" Oh, happy were they that could yield up breath 

Amongst the African lances, however sharp, 

"Whilst boldly maintaining our most holy faith 

In the Mauritanian territories dark. 

Of whom perpetual remembrance hath. 

Of those whose illustrious deeds were of much mark. 

Given life eternal for a short life lost here, 

Making death sweet by the honours it doth confer ! " 

* Mountains so called on a promontory of Epirus, which projects 
between the Ionian and Adriatic seas, and were noted for the many 
shipwrecks, caused by thunderstorms. 



CAKTO TI. 167 



LXXXIT. 

"Whilst tlius lie spake, the winds that were contending, 
And, like indomitable bulls, with mighty roar, 
More and more the tempest kept extending, 
Tlirough the small rigging, whistling more and more : 
The dreadful lightning's flash incessant, blinding, 
Pierce thunders, which seemed by their continued roar 
As if heaven were falling wholly to the earth. 
And with it the elements that gave earth birth, 

LXXXT. 

But now, the amorous star did scintillate 

Before the shining sun, in that horizon 

"Which is messenger of the day, and shed its light. 

The earth, and the wide sea with joyful eyes on ; 

The Groddess who through the heavens guided it, 

From whom sword-bearing Orion ever flies on. 

Soon as she saw the sea, and what the fleet befel, 

She was much distrest, and resolved the storm to quell. 

LXXXVI. 

*' These are the works of Bacchus without doubt," 
She said, " but it shall not be that he succeeds 
"With such base intention, before it shall come out 
Ever to me that he attempts such evil deeds." 
Thus saying, she descends to the sea tossed about. 
On the way, very little time she takes or needs. 
Meanwhile she commands the amorous Nymphs to wear 
Grarlands of roses in their golden hair, 

LXXXVII. 

She bids them put on garlands of various colours, 
Thus the fair golden hair by contrast mending. 
"Who can deny, that often grow red flowers 
"Upon the natural gold that Love is blending ? 
To soften she determined by amours 
The nauseous company of winds contending. 
Shewing to them the beauteous Nymphs of Love, 
Who <3ame more shining than the stars above. 



168 THE LrSIAD. 



Lxxxyni. 



And so it was, for upon tlieir arriving 

Witliin sight of them, thereupon were staid 

The forces, with which till then thej had been striving, 

And now, as if subdued, they at once obeyed : 

Their feet, and hands, it seem'd the Nymphs contriving 

To tie with locks that threw lightning into shade. 

To Boreas, in whose breast she is very dear, 

Thus spoke the most beautiful Orithya. 

LXXXIX. 

" Think not, fierce Boreas, that I believe thee. 
That to me thou constant love did'st ever bear; 
Gentleness is the only proof not to deceive me, 
Pury in a true lover I could never fear : 
If thou bridlest not this madness to relieve me, 
From this time hence, hope never whilst so severe 
I can love thee more, but must thee ever dread. 
And my love for thee leave terror in its stead." 

xc. 

In the same terms the beautiful Galatea 
Said to the fierce South, that she very well knew 
That days had been, that delighted him to see her, 
And well believed that whatever she wished he'd do, 
The brave knew not then, believing these words of cheer, 
How his heart could well be shut his breast into : 
From content to see his mistress come a-wooing, 
Little cared he about any more hard blowing. 

xci. 

In this manner the others softened down 

All of a sudden, the other lovers too ; 

And then to fair Yenus, delivered as her own, 

The softened angers and furies that nought could do ; 

She promis'd them, seeing they lovers had grown, 

Sempiternal favoiu', in their affections true, 

In her beautiful hands receiving homage, 

And promise of fidelity in this voyage. 



CA:jfTO Yi. 169 

XCII. 

Now tlie bright morning shewed the mountain tops, 

Whence Ganges slowly murmuring doth flow, 

When the mariners, from the main-top aloft, 

Discovered very high land before the prow. 

Now out of torment, and free from the sea's fell stop, 

All terrors from the heart away did go. 

Then said the Melindian pilot mnch relieved : — 

*' That land is Calecut, if I am not deceived. 

XCIII. 

" This certainly is the land for which ye inquire 
Of the true India, ye now see there ; 
And if no more of the world than that ye desire, 
Tour labours of such long duration finish here." 
Here G-ama no longer could hold his bosom's fire, 
Trom joy to see the long- sought land appear : 
Down on his knees, with hands upraised to heaven, 
Thanks to God for the great mercy by him were given. . 

XCIY. 

Thanks nnto God he gave, and with much reason, 
Not only because the land they sought had been shewn, 
Which 'mid such perils seeking, in stormy season. 
And for which so much labour they had undergone ; 
But because saved on such a sudden occasion 
Prom death, which the sea was preparing with its own. 
Winds stiff", vehement, and dreadfully extreme, 
As one awakening from a horrible dream. 

XCT. 

In the midst of such extreme perils horrible, 
Of toils like these so grave, and so severe. 
Do they attain, to whom fame is desirable. 
Honours immortal, — and of these a greater share 
Not reposing for ever on the venerable 
And noble names their ancestors did bear ; 
Nor in the gilded couches, amongst the fine 
Animal wool of the Muscovite Zebelhne, 

I 



170 THE LIJSIAI). 



XCTI. 



'Nor with the new and exquisite eatables ; 
Nor with the soft and idle promenades ; 
Nor with the infinite pastimes agreeable, 
Which effeminate the generous bosoms hard. 
Nor with the appetites ever indomitable, 
Which Fortune always holds in delicate regard, 
So that she suffers no one, even to embark 
In any great, heroic, or virtuous work. 

XCTII. 

But with his own strong arm the way to feel 

To those honours, which she is pleased to call her own ; 

By watching, and by wearing the tempered steel. 

Exposed to tempests, on wild waves tossed and thrown. 

Breaking the torpid frosts through that congeal 

In the lap of the south, and regions that shelter none. 

Devouring the corrupt and scanty food. 

Seasoned only by hard suffering and poor blood. 

XOVIIl. 

And with forcing up the face, that would turn pale. 

To look serene, happy, and heedless of harm. 

To meet the rapid round shot, whistling through the gale. 

To carry away a companion's leg or arm. 

In this way a hard skin is made that w^ill not fail, 

Despiser of empty titles, and money's charm ; 

Titles, and money, by mere accident 

Made ; rather than by virtue, just and permanent. 

xcix. 

Thus is enlightened the understanding great, 
Which mature experience at leisure gathers ; 
And continues seeing, as from the lofty seat. 
The low encumber' d merely human matters. 
This, where it possesses power or arrangement meet 
Discreet, and not as passions occupy and flatter. 
Would rise to illustrious command (by merit). 
Against his will even, not by prayiDg for it. 



CANTO VII. 



Now they found themselves at length beside the land, 
So much desired by so many and so long, 
Enclosed between the great Indian currents, and 
The Granges dwelling terrestrial Heavens among. 
Behold ! brave people, work now to your hand, 
To grasp the palm of victory so strong. 
Now ye are arrived, now before ye such is 
The land of India which abounds in riches, 

II. 

Lusian generation, I say behold, 

Te, that so small a portion are of earth ; 

1 say, not of earth at all, but in the fold, 
Parental, of Him who to round Heaven gave birth ; 
Te, whom not on]y no peril can withhold 

From conquering the unclean people of no worth ; 
But though that may be to covet, and not obey 
The Mother, who in Heaven hath essential sway. 

III. 

Ye Portuguese, few in numbers, yet so strong. 

That the weak power ye possess troubles you not ; 

Ye, who at the cost of death yourselves among 

The law of eternal life have spread about : 

So now from Heaven the lot is before you thrown, 

That ye, though few ye be, may do what ye ought. 

Much in the holy Christendom, to be : 

And thus, Christ ! dost thou raise humility ! 



172 THE LTJSIAD. 



IT. 

Ye see the Germans, a most superb flock, 

That on such extensive fields luxuriant feeds, 

Against the successor of Peter on his rock, 

^Rebelled, new Pastor and new seat for him needs: 

Ye see it in ugly wars against a yoke, 

I^ot yet content with the blind error about creeds ; 

Nor against the most haughty Ottoman going, 

But Sovereignty from off its shoulders throwing. (Jc 3) 

T. 

Ye see the sturdy Englishman, who was called 
King of the ancient and most holy city, {I 3) 
Which the torpid Ishmaelite still holds enthrall' d ! 
Who ever title so far from the truth did see ? 
Amongst Boreal snows he riots unappall'd. 
In a new kind of Christianity : 
Towards those of Christ he holds a naked sword. 
But not to take the land of which he was Lord. 

TI. 

And now a false King guards where prophets saw 

The terrestrial city of Jerusalem, 

While the Englishman keeps not the holy law 

Erom the celestial Jerusalem that came. 

But of thee, what shall I say, unworthy Gaul ? 

That the title of " Most Christian" dost claim, 

Not to defend the city, nor to guard her own. 

But rather to be against her, and throw her down, {rn 3) 

VII. 

Dost thou find thou hast a right to the domains 
Of Christians, possessing so many, and so vast ; 
And not to the Cyniphus,* and Nile, where reign 
The enemy of the holy Name for ages past ? 
There they must prove the sword's edge, and be slain, 
Who would reprove the " Song of the Church" at last, 
Of " Charles," and of " Lewis" the name, and the land, 
Inherit ye, yet in just war ye make no stand ? 

* A river in Africa. 



CANTO VII. 173 

YIII. 

Then what shall I say of those, who in delights, 
That the vile sloth of the world carries along, 
Wear out their lives, enjoying money's might, 
Porgetful of their ancient valour strong ? 
From tyranny arise petty grudges and spite, 
Which the brave people always know to be wrong. 
With thee, Italy, I speak, that art now immersed 
In a thousand vices, and to thyself adverse, 

IX. 

Oh miserable Christians ! By misadventure 
Are ye the teeth of Cadmus broadcast sown, {n 3) 
That by one another's hands must death endure, 
Eeing all the product of the womb of one ? 
See ye not the divine and holy Sepulture 
Possessed by dogs, who always united come 
To take from you the ancient land your own, 
Making themselves famous even by war alone. 



Ye see they have by use and by decree ; 

Whereof they are so devotedly observant, 

That restless"^ army ever at hand to be. 

Sent against those who are Christ's loving servants? 

Amongst ye the furious Alecta eagerly 

The odious tares of discord sows preserving. 

See if ye are secure from dangers to arise, 

Prom these and yourselves, your greatest enemies. 

XI. 

If covetous of lordships great diverse, 

Ye go to conquer other people's lands; 

See ye not the Pactolus, and the Hermus, rivers 

Which roll down both of them auriferous sands ? 

Lydia, Assyria, of golden threads are weavers ; 

Africa hides the shining veins so grand : 

Such riches surely might move you even through love, 

Por the holy Temple induce you not to move. 



174 THE LUSIAD. 



=XII> 



Those terrible inventions, wild and new, 

The mortal instruments of artillery, 

Ought now to prove their force and action true, 

In the walls of Byzantium, and of Turkey. 

Send back to the wild woods and caverns where it grew, 

In Caspian mountains ; to Scythia's cold sky. 

The Turkish generation, which now multiplies 

Under your own more rich European skies. 

XIII. 

G-reeks, Thracians, Armenians, Greorgians, 
Are calling to you, that the people brute 
Oblige them to submit their children to profane 
Precepts of, the Alcoran: (Oh hard tribute) ! 
In punishing any actions inhumane 
Ye glory with hearts resolute, and astute ; 
And ye seek not the high praise of saving those 
[From powers ye could successfully oppose, (o 3) 

^IT. 

But whilst so blind, and wilfully negligent 

Te are of your own blood, O people insane ! 

There are not wanting deeds of Christian hardiment 

In this small people Lusitaniane : 

In Africa they hold maritime settlements : 

In Asia more than any are sovereign ; 

In the new quarter of the world the fields they plough ; 

And if more of the world they want, there they can go. 

XV. 

And now at length we shall see what did befal 
Unto those so celebrated navigators. 
After gentle Yenus had moderated all 
The proud fury of contending winds and waters ; 
After from off the great land rose night's dark pall. 
The end of their long struggles and disasters, 
"Whether they came the law of Christ to bring. 
And give to it new customs, and new King. 



ca:s"to yii. 175 

XTI. 

As soon as at the new country they arrived, 

Light boats of fishermen to the vessels came, 

Who to point out the course to them contrived 

To Calecut, being dwellers in the same. 

Towards this the prows were inclined, and hope revived ; 

For this was the city having the best name, 

The best in Malabar, where lived at rest 

The King, who all the territory possessed. 

XTII. 

There lies beyond the Indus, and this side Granges, 
Territory most extensive, and famed enough. 
Which on the Austral side the sea impinges, 
And on the north cavernous Emodeus rough. 
The yoke of diverse kings and creeds deranges 
The whole ; and amongst these the vicious stuff 
Of Mahomet ; some to idols adoration give. 
And some to the animals that amongst them live. 

XYIII. 

There deep in the summit ranges grand, which traverse 
So great a territory, passing Asia through, 
Taking names as niunerous, and as diverse, 
As the regions are thi'ough which these mountains go ; 
The fountains issue, whence the flowing rivers 
Come down, whose mighty current brings them to 
The Indian sea, and encircling the precious 
Territory, making it a Chersonesus. 

XIX. 

Between one and t'other river, the spacious map 

Of the vast territory rims into a point. 

Almost pyramidal, which in the lap 

Of the sea with Ceylon island appears conjoint : 

And near where the large arm rises in mountain gap 

Gangetic, the ancient rumour gave account. 

That th' inhabitants where this river valLey lowers. 

Live on the perfinne of the finest flowers. 



176 THE LrSIAD. 

XX. 

But now in names, and habits, and profession, 
New, and various, are the inhabitants ; 
The Delhii and Patani, who in possession 
Of land, and people abundant, nothing want : 
The Deccani, Orriani, who salvation 
Hope from the Ganges' waters resonant ; (p 3) 
Besides there is the territory of Bengal, 
"Which, in fertility, surpasses all. 

XXI. 

The belligerent kingdom of Cambay, 

(They say this once to KiQg Porus did belong) 

The kingdom of Narsinga, whose power lay 

More in gold, and precious stones, than in people strong 

Here from the bounding sea they can survey 

A mountain range running the whole land along, 

Serving as a strong wall to Malabar, 

Which thereby lives secure from Bisnagar. 

XXII. 

The native people of the country call it Grhaut, 
Prom near the foot of which a portion small 
Or narrow skirt extends, which doth run out 
To combat the sea's ferocity natural : 
Here above other cities, Calecut, 
Certainly has the dignity above all 
Of head of the whole Empire, rich, and fair ; 
Samorim is the title of the Kuler there. 

XXIII. 

The fleet having reached a favourable place 
For anchoring at, they sent off a Portuguese, 
To carry the news to the Gentoo King express 
Of it's arrival in these distant seas. 
The messenger by the river gained access. 
Which there runs into the sea ; his curious guise. 
Colour, strange maroier, and new sort of dress, 
Brought soon to see him all the populace. 



CA55-TO TIT. 



XXIT. 



177 



Amongst tlie people coming to see him there, 
Came a Mahometan, who had been born beyond, 
Over in the region of Barbarj, where 
Antaeus had been obeyed and towns did found : 
Whether by the vicinity it were 
Of the Lusitanian kingdom to his ground. 
Or whether signalized by his steel, and sent 
By Fortune to such distant banishment : 

xxr. 

On seeing the messenger, with familiar air, 

As one who well the Spanish language knew, {q 3) 

He said : " What brought thee to this other world here, 

So far from your own Lusitania true ?" 

" Op'ning out," (the other replied) "the ocean, where 

Never before the human race took a view, 

We come the great Indian current to explore. 

Where the Law Divine maybe spread about still more." 

XXVI. 

Struck with astonishment at the great voyage 
Stood the Moor, who Mongaide was called, 
Hearing of the hardships met with on the passage 
Of the sea, as the Lusitanian these detailed. 
But seeing, that the purport of the message 
Only to the King of the country should be told, 
He said, beyond the city the King's dwelling lay, 
But that the distance was only a little way. 

XXVII. 

And that until the King should hear the news 
Of such a strauge arrival, he requested, 
That in his poor dwelling he should not refuse 
To rest until he food of the country tasted : 
And after he should be refreshed, he would propose, 
To return with him to th' armada for, he said, 
That nothing could afford him greater happiness, 
Than to meet neighbours in a distant land like this. 

I 2 



178 THE LTISIAD. 

XXVIII. 

The Portuguese accepted most willingly 

"What generous Mon9aide invited liim to : 

As if for long time had been their amity, 

He ate and drank, and did all he was asked to do : 

Together then they set out from the city 

For the fleet, which the Moor immediately knew : 

He ascends the Captain's ship, and all there showed 

To Mon9aide, the kind reception that they owed. 

;xxix. 

The Captain emibraced him on the warm side, 

On hearing spoken the language of Castillo ; 

He seated him beside him, and quickly tried 

To find what Mong-aide could of the country tell. • 

As in E-hodope the lover his ear applied (r 3) 

To the bower, that he might hear the maiden well, 

Eurydice, on her golden lyre playing ; 

So the men pressed to hear what the Moor was saying. 

xxx. 

He thus began : " ! people, whom 'nature kind 
Made neighbours to my own paternal nest ; 
What destiny so great, or what fortune blind, 
Brought you to undertake such way to the East ? 
'Not without reason, no, though occult, be the mind. 
To come from Tagus remote, and Minho known least. 
By seas that have never been ploughed by other keels. 
To kingdoms, such distance separates, and conceals. 

. xxxi, 

" God certainly brings you, admitting of some claim, 
Some service rendered to Him, by you performed : 
Eor this alone guides you, and doth you sustain 
Against enemies, the sea, the winds and storms. 
Know, that ye are in India, which contains 
People diverse, rich, and prosperous, which charms 
With shining gold, and stones most fine and precious, 
Delicious perfumes, and ardent spices. 



CANTO YII. 179 



XXXII. 



" This province, whose haven at the present hour 

Ye have put into, is named Malabar : 

In its ancient worship idols did adore, 

"Which now in these parts broken and overturned are ; 

Has now diverse kings, but one only had before 

In other times, as antique fames declare : 

Sarama Perimal was King alone, 

Inheriting the kingdom united in one. 

XXXIII. 

" But as unto this territory then came, 
Prom the side beyond Arabia other people, 
"Who the Mahometan worship brought with them ; 
(In which faith my beloved parents did me disciple,) 
It happened, that their preaching converted him 
This Perimal : some men both eloquent, and able, 
Making him with so much fervour adopt it fully. 
That it is supposed he died in the faith most holy. 

XXXIT. 

" Ships he prepares, and these he loads with curious 
Merchandise, and with offerings, very rich, 
Intending in them to sail and become a religious, 
Where the Prophet lies, as the law enjoins as much : 
The pow'rful kingdom, just before he to sea goes. 
He divides amongst his ovv^n making poor men rich, 
So no proper heir was left, and in this way he 
The good roAvarded, and set his subjects free, 

XXXV. 

" To one Cochin, to another Cananor, 

To this Chale, to that the Isle of Pepper ; 

To this Coulao", to that gave Cranganor, 

And the best, of the rest, to such as served him better. 

One youth alone, whom he esteemed more, 

After he gave away all, presented himself there : 

Por this youth Calecut alone remained, 

A city now rich by commerce well sustained. 



180 THE LUSIAD. 



XXXVI. 



" To this lie gave with the title excellent 
Of Emperor, who the others should command. 
This done, he takes his departure diligent 
To where he should pass a holy life and end. 
And from this remains the name, of such portent 
Samorim, more than any held worthy and grand. 
To the youth and his descendants, from whom came 
He who now holds the Empire, in power and name. 

XXXYII. 

" The law of aU the people, rich and poor, 

Of invented fables only is imagin'd : 

JSTaked they go, wearing only a cloth before 

The parts, for w^hich nature has covering design' d ; 

Two kinds of people there are ; the nobles esteem' d more 

Are called the Naires ; and the others less refin'd 

Are named Poleas : whom the laws so fix 

That the ancient castes can never intermix. 

XXXTIII. 

" Because those who always follow the same calling, 

Cannot receive a consort from another caste ; 

Kor can sons follow other than the trade befalling 

To them from their forefathers, while life lasts. 

By the Naires it is held a great sin and downfalling, 

To be by the others touched, to this they cling so fast, 

That when any one is touched, by passer-by, 

With thousand ceremonies they wash and purify, (s 3) 

XXXIX. 

*' In this way, the Jewish populace antique 
Did not touch the people of Samaria : 
But more strange things, in those of whom I speak 
In this country thou shalt see of manner various : 
The Naires alone the perilous duties take 
Of arms ; alone defend from the contrarious 
Bands, their King ; wearing ever, defence to afford, 
On the left a dagger, and on the right a sword. 



CANTO YII. 181 

XL. 

" Bracliniiiis are their religious persons called, 

An ancient name, and of great pre-eminence : 

They observe the precepts, once so famous held, 

Of one, who first gave any name to science : 

They kill no living thing, and though strong willed, 

From flesh observe most rigid abstinence : 

Only in the venereal connection 

They have greater license with less circumspection. 

XLI. 

" General are the women ; but only to 

Those who are of the family of their husbands \ 

Happy condition, happy people, who 

Are not annoyed by jealousies disturbing ! 

These, and other customs varying so 

The Malabarese are careful in observing : 

The land teems with population, and every thing, 

That waves from China to the Nile can bring." 

XLir. 

Such was the Moor's account ; but up and down 
The tidings fast about the city went. 
Making th' arrival of these strange people known, 
"When the King to learn the truth to the city sent : 
Then came marching through the streets of the town, 
Surrounded by all sexes, and ages, most intent, 
The principal men, whom the King sent to seek 
The Captain of the armada, to whom he would speak. 

XLIII. 

But he, from the King already had permission 

To land, and being accompanied by 

Portuguese nobles, without hesitation 

Sets out, adorned with much rich drapery : 

Of colours in beautiful association 

The happy spectacle people rejoiced to see : 

The well-timed oars most diligently plying. 

Now the sea ; then, through the fresh river flying. 



182 THE LrSIAD. 

XLIT. 

On the shore there stood a Minister of state, 

"Who in his language is named Catnal, 

Surrounded bj JSTaires, who did there await 

The noble Grama with unused ceremonial : 

Now in their arms to shore they bore him straight, 

And a rich bed in portable litter small 

They offer that he may enter it : to be borne, 

A common custom, on men's shoulders, in due form. 

XLT. 

In this manner the Malabar, also the Lusian, 
Proceed on their way to where the King required : 
The other Portuguese follow, their own legs using 
As infantry, or a bold body guard : 
The people gathered together, quite confusing, 
To see the strange people, of whom they had heard. 
Much desiring to ask them questions, but unable, 
Because this was forbidden at the Tower of Babel. 

XLYI. 

Grama, the Catual held in conversation. 
On subjects of most moment at the time : 
Monqaide between them gave interpretation. 
As the words of both were understood by him. 
Thus to the city continued their progression. 
To where a rich edifice seemed to shine ; 
This was a sumptuous temple, arriving, whither 
At the portals thereof, both entered together, 

XLTII. 

There were to be seen of deities the figures 
Sculptured in wood, and also in cold stone : 
Variously painted, and in different gestures, - 
By the second, the devil was in person shewn : 
They also saw the abominable sculptures ; 
With chimera's* ever-varying members known : 
God so represented to the Christian's eyes, 
In such forms, caused inexpressible surprise. 

* Chimera^ a monster slain by Bellerophon.—Il. yi. 



CAISTO VII. 183 



XLTIII. 



One, in the head, had horns hollow sided, 

Like Jupiter Amnion in Lybia of other days : 

Another, on one body had two faces united. 

Much as antique Janus was made to look both ways 

Another, by many arms was divided, 

As if a Briareus the sculptor's art essays ; 

Another, a canine front presents before. 

Like Anubis, whom they at Memphis did adore. 

XLIX. 

Here the superstitious adoration 
Being concluded by the barbarous G-entoo, 
They proceed direct, without more deviation, 
To the presence of the King of the people low ; 
The file along the way gaining augmentation. 
By those who came to see so strange a show : 
They crowd the. house roofs and the window shades, 
Old men and boys, the matrons, and the maids. 



Now they approached, and not at a slow pace. 
The gardens odoriferous and beautiful, 
"Which in themselves conceal the royal place, 
, Not lofty towers, but sumptuous and cool : 
The nobles build their seats, each in such enclos'd space, 
Amid shady, delightful groves, of fragrance full : 
So live the kings of that people and clime. 
In the country and the city at the same time. 

LI. 

In the gates of the outer court they recognise 

The subtilty of the Dsedalian faculty, 

In figures shewing the nobleness of rise 

Of India, in most remote antiquity ; 

They have so vividly figured the histories 

Of that antique age with so much certainty. 

That whoever of them has notice of their growth, 

From mere shadows thus obtains lniowled<?e of the trirfch. 



184 THE LTJSIAD. 



LII. 



There was a very great army marclied into 

The Oriental lands Hydaspes laves ; 

Commanded by a captain with smooth brow, 

Who with flourishing thyrses battle gave : 

For him was erected jSTysa, which did grow 

On the banks of that great river, whose pure wave 

Was such, that had it been seen by Semele, 

She must have truly called it her son's own simile. (^3) 

LIU. 

But before drinking up that river dry, 

A multitude of Assyrian people went, 

Subject to feminine authority. 

Of one as beautiful as incontinent : 

There joined to the side, said never cold to be. 

They had sculptured the fiery horse on action bent, 

With whom the son was to be competitor i 

Brutal incontinence, abominable amour ! (w 3) 

LIV, 

Prom this some way removed, triumphant floated 
The banners and insignia of glorious G-reece, 
Third monarchy, which all others subjugated. 
Even to the waters of the Indian seas : 
Gruided by a young captain, by battle elated. 
And crowned by palms that valour ever please, 
So that now no more Philip's son, nor royal heir, 
That he was son of Jupiter the world must hear. 

LT. 

When these sculptures had been seen by the Portuguese, 

To the Catual then observed the Capitan : 

" Time soon may come, when other victories 

Shall surpass those ye see, that first began : 

Here shall be written newer histories 

By strangers coming, another race of man ; 

Which our own wiser Magi may discover, 

When to foresee the future they endeavour. 



CATiTO YII. 185 



LYI. 

" And more they will be told by magic science, 

That to avoid the employment of such force, 

Quite useless will become man's frail defiance, 

In vain against Heaven, man's most ingenious course : 

But it also tells, that by great experience 

In arms and peaceful arts, that distant source 

Will be such, that in the world wiU be known 

The conqueror, by the conquered' s glory alone." 

LYII. 

Thus saying, they entered into the hall, 
Wherein that powerful Emperor did lie 
On a little matrass, much surpassing all 
Others in workmanship, and value high : 
In a recumbent attitude, one they might call 
A venerable lord in high prosperity : 
Of cloth of gold his girdle, and his head 
With precious shining gems was overspread. 

LYIII. 

Quite close to him a venerable old man, 

Gave him from time to time, being on knees prostrate, 

A green leaf of the fragrant plant,* again and again, 

As was his custom when he did ruminate. 

A Brahmin, pre-eminent person in that divan. 

Towards Grama came with crouching step sedate. 

That he might present him to the great Prince in form, 

Who beckoned to him to take his seat before him. 

LIX. 

Gama being seated beside the couch so rich, 
The others a good way remo^ved off to the right 
Of the Samorim, to whom their dress was such 
As never 'till then had come before his sight : 
Eaising the grave voice of one experienced much, 
Which afterwards acquired authority and weight 
In the opinion of the King and of the rest. 
The Captain the Indian monarch thus addrest : 

* The Betel leaf. 



186 THE LTJSIAD, 



LX. 



" A great King, far beyond these regions, where 
The voluble Heavens, in perpetual round, 
The solar light from earth, the earth's own sphere 
Hides, tinging the half it left in darkness profound ; 
Hearing from rumour, which responded even there 
To echo, how in thee of India around 
Consists the principality, and majesty, 
Desires to be with thee in bond of amity. 

LXI. 

" And by long ways about has sent to thee, 
To inform thee, that every kind of thing 
That in the sea, or in the land may be 
Of riches, that Tagus to the Mle may bring ; 
And from the coldest Greenland's icy sea, 
Even to where the sun's rays no shadows fling, 
JS'or change the days, o'er people of Ethiopia, 
All these he has in his kingdom's cornucopia. 

LXII. 

" And if thou choosest by compact and treaty 
Of peace, and bound by friendship sacred and pm^e, 
To consent to trade mth the variety 
Of productions, afforded by his lands and yours ; 
And so increase the revenues, and quantity, 
Produced by labour and sweat of the people poor ; 
To both your kingdoms it would certainly be 
Grreat gain : glorious to him, profitable to thee. 

LXIII. 

" And it being stipulated, that the knot of this amity 
Between you shall be firm and permanent, 
He shall be ready in cases of adversity, 
Which to thy kingdom may occur in war's event, 
With people, arms, and ships : in the quality 
Of brother to recognize thee, in good intent ; 
And that of thy will and pleasure on this proposal 
Thou wilt give me a distinct compliance or refusal." 



CATfTO VII. 187 



LXIV. 



Such was tlie Captain's embassy and oration, 
To which the Grentoo King did thus reply, 
That to see ambassadors coming from a nation 
So remote, great glory he received thereby : 
But in this case the final determination, 
AYith his Council must be come to advisedly. 
Informing themselves certainly whence they came, 
The King, and the people, and territory they name. 

XXT. 

And that in the interim from his toils so great, 
Now past, he might repose, and after brief delay 
He would give to his dispatch just form complete, 
Which to his Eang a kind answer should convey. 
Hereupon was set the usual stop by night 
To the fatigue of mortals, that again they 
Should mth sweet sleep restore the wearied limbs, 
Occupying the eyes meanwhile with idle dreams, (v 3) 

LXTI. 

Hospitably welcomed* and made comfortable 

Were Grama and Portuguese, in the residence 

Of the noble E-egedor of the Indian people. 

With feasts and gratification most intense. 

In the discharge of duties, Catual able. 

Had orders received from his King, to find from whence 

These strange people came, what the law they professed, 

Their manners and customs, and what lands they possessed. 

LXVIT. 

A.s soon as the fiery car of beauteous light 

He saw, and the Delian youth renewing day. 

He sends to call Mon^aide, that he might 

Hear what of the new people he might have to say. 

Now he inquires promptly, whether he was right. 

If he had entire knowledge, certain proof, who they, 

Such strangers were ? for that he understood, 

They were people from his own country's neighbourhood. 



188 



THE LXJSIAD. 



LXYIII. 



That lie should then and there particularly give 
Information full and complete, for it was sought 
In the service of the King, who was to receive 
"What intelligence might thus to light be brought. 
Mongaide answered : " If I wished you to have 
From me in this matter more, I could say nought : 
But that I know, they are people from beyond Spain, 
"Where both my son and the Sun bathe in the main. 

LXIX. 

" They keep the law of a prophet, whose wondrous birth, 

Without damage or injury to the mother, 

"Was such that by the breath of God he came on earth, 

To save the world, and gather it's flocks together. 

What I have learnt of my fathers of the worth 

Of these, is that the great valour, we would smother 

Of their arms, in their hands resplendent shines, 

Seeming what our own appeared in former times. 

LXX. 

" For they, with superhuman virtue -ejected 

These forth from the cultivated fields abundant 

Of rich Tagus, and fresh Gruadiana, eifected 

With actions memorable, and fame resounding : 

And, not content then, to our cities unprotected, 

On the African coast, thro' stormy seas, confound them \ 

They went, unwilling to let us live secure, 

'Nor to allow our cities, nor lofty walls to endure. 

LXXI. 

" Nor have they shewn less skill, nor less strength main- 
tained. 
When any other war they did contend. 
Either with belligerent potentates of Spain, 
Or beyond any that from Pyrenees descend : 
So that never, in short, did foreign lances gain, 
But, always vanquished, found themselves in the end. 
Nor do they know yet, nor, I affirm, can tell us, 
That for these Hannibals, has been one Marcellus. 



CA]S^TO Til. 189 

Lxxir. 

" And should not this information be as mucli 

As may be wanted, to these strangers relating ; 

Inform thyself from themselves for they are such 

As falsehood hate, to them most irritating : 

Gro to see the fleet, their arms, and try to match 

The founded metal, to rend all fulminating : 

These will make thee glad and perfectly at ease, 

With the fitness for war and peace of the Portuguese." 

LXXIII. 

Now the Idolater eagerly desired 

On hearing what of these the Moor related, 

To go and see them, and boats fitted out required, 

That he might see with what Grama had navigated : 

Eoth leave the shore together, and the ships admired ; 

The Naires, follow them and embark elated : 

They ascend the flag-ship, a vessel strong, well moored. 

Where Paul de Glama received them both on board. 

LXXIV. 

Purple are the canopies ; the flying banners 
Are of the rich thread by the silk- worm spun : 
In them were represented well the manner 
In which the strong arm battle-fields had won: 
Pitched battles were shewn, adventures singular, 
Tierce combats cruel, all in picture done. 
And in all that they presented to the Grentoo, 
Attentively on these he fixed his view. 

LXXV. 

And what these were he inquired : but Gama then 

E-equested that he would first be pleased to sit down, 

And that the pleasure so agreeable to men 

Of the Epicurean sect must first be known. 

Prom the sparkling glasses they pour forth amain 

The liquor by Noah first to mankind shown : 

But eating was forbidden to the Gentoo, 

Just what his sect would not permit him to dOr 



190 THE LTTSIAH. 



LXXTI. 



The trumpet's sound, which in time of peace to the mind 
Becomes the type of war, now rends the air ; 
With the fire of that diabolical engine 
"Which can make the depths profound of the sea to hear» 
The G-entoo observed the whole ; but did most incline 
To know all that men had done, either great or rare ; 
Grreat actions, which in the portraiture he 
Saw there described in the silent poesy. 

LXXYII. 

They rise up, with him Da Grama on one side, 
Coelho on the other ; and the Moor 
Fixes his eyes on the warlike air of pride 
Of a white-haired old man, venerable and demure ; 
Whose name can never die while the red tide 
Of human life flows still the world through : 
In perfect Greek costume, erect he stands ; 
A branch as emblem holding in his hand. 

LXXYIII, 

A branch in the hand he holds. — But I, how blind ? 

To commence insane, audaciously alone. 

Without you, Nymphs of Tagus and Mondego, kind, 

On road so arduous, various, and long ! 

Your favour I invoke, that am to steer inclined 

On the high tide, 'gainst a contrary wind so strong, 

That if ye assist me not, there is cause to fear 

That my frail boat must soon fill and disappear. 

LXXIX. 

Behold, Nymphs ! I have been suchlong time singing (wS) 

Tour own Tagus, and your own Lusitanians, 

Fortune in my long weary wanderings bringing, 

To my hand new labours, me new damage sustaining ; 

At one time the sea, at another encountering 

The perils of inhuman Mars, never complaining ; 

Life Canace more, who when to death condemned, 

In one hand still held the sword, in the other the pen. 



CATTTO YII, 191: 



IXXX. 



Now witli detestable poverty beset, 

By the charities of strangers now degraded ; 

ISTourisbing yesterday fresh budding hope, that yet 

Again to-day, is more than ever, faded : 

Escaping now with life at such a hazard great. 

Hanging by a mere thread so attenuated, 

That to save it was a miracle no less. 

Than for the years of the Jewish King to increase.* 

LXXXT. 

And yet, my Nymphs beloved, 'twas not enough 

That such and so many miseries surrounded. 

But that those whose praise I sing should be so gruff, 

So little good to me from my verse redounded : 

Instead of repose I hoped for, and needed enough, 

Of laurel wreaths that might have my brow surrounded, 

Unusual labours they for me invented, 

And with such hard lot they left me discontented, (x 3) 

LXXXII, 

See, Nymphs, what clever and. ingenious lords 
Your Tagus has produced and made victorious, 
"Who also can appreciate, and favours accord 
To those whose lofty song has made then glorious ! 
What examples to future writers these afford. 
To awaken wit and skill in the meritorious. 
To commemorate those actions worth preserving. 
And eternal glory give to those deserving ! 

L XXXIII, 

Thus being obliged so many woes to bear, 

That your favour and yours alone has never failed, 

Arrived thus far, and principally here, 

Where diverse actions great must be upheld : 

Grive me your aid alone, and here I swear. 

To employ it for none but those who have excelled, 

Nor mere mediocrity by jlattery raise. 

On pain of forfeiting both thanks and bays. 

* Hezekiah, See Isaiah xxxviii. • 



192 THE LTJSIAD. 

LXXXIT. 

Nor believe, Nymphs, no, never woiild I give fame 
To who to the common weal, and that of his King, 
"Would prefer his own private interest or name, 
Inimical to laws both human and divine : 
No ambitious, who would, quite dead to shame, 
Ascend to mighty charges, would I sing, 
"Who could seek more power basely to exercise 
By indulging envy or some degrading vice. 

LXXXY. 

No one who would such use make of great power, 
T'effect his own designs, or selfish purpose ; 
And who to please the erring vulgar of the hour 
"Would change himself into more shapes than Proteus 
Nor, Muses, sufibr me to raise, but rather lower, 
"Who with honest habit and grave veil would see us, 
"Were it but to please the King, in office new. 
Despised and robbed, you, me, and people too. 

LXXXVI. 

Nor any who find it to be just and proper 
To execute for the King the laws, severely, 
And do not find it to be just as much so for 
The sweat of the poor man's brow to pay as fairly. 
Nor any who with little themselves to ofier 
From others learn to be prudent, and see clearly. 
With a rapacious hand, and niggard eyes. 
The works of others to censure and criticise. 

LXXXYII. 

Those who have perilled, only shall I mention, 
Por their God, and for their King the cherished life, 
Where losing it, that life by fame did lengthen, 
So well deserved by their meritorious strife. 
Apollo, and the Muses, with kind intention, 
"Will double me the conceded ardour stifi", 
"Whilst I draw breath and take a little rest, 
To return to the work with lighter breast. 



CANTO VIII. 



The first figure at wMcli Catual took his stand, 

Of those lie saw in pictiu'e represented, 

Who for device a branch held in his hand, 

And with a white, long, and flowing beard was painted, 

" Who he was," and " what he was," wished to understand 

" The device in his hand, for what invented ?" 

These inquiries Paulo answered Avith voice discreet. 

And the Moor interpreted in language meet,. 

II. 

" Every one of those figures thou seest here, 
So brave to view, and fierce in their aspect. 
More brave and more furious have been made t' appear, 
By fame, in their works, and deeds, and their efiect ; 
Ajicients they are, but still they shine most clear 
With renown, amongst the talented most perfect ; 
This thou seest is Luso, from whose fame 
Our kingdom of Lusitania takes its name. 

III. 

" He was the son and companion of the Theban, 
Who so many diverse countries overcame : 
He seems come to establish his abode in Spain 
By dint of arms, by which he gained a name : 
Of the Douro and Guadiana, the proud plain 
Now styled Elysian, so much he liked the same, 
That there he chose to give to his wearied bones 
Eternal sepulchre, and his name to our sons, 

K 



194 THE LtJSIAD. 

IV. 

" The branch thou seest he holds as a device, 
Was the green Thyrsus used by Bacchus long, 
Which indicates, and doth our age apprise, 
That this was his companion and loved son. 
Seest thou another, who to Tagus' bank applies 
His foot after ploughing many seas upon. 
Landing where he the perpetual walls did raise. 
And temple to Pallas, well known in former days ? 



*' 'Tis Ulysses who doth that holy temple raise 
Unto the Groddess, who gave him eloquence : 
If there in Asia, he set famed Troy in a blaze, 
He founded here in Europe Lisbon immense." 
" Who will this be here who marks out his ways 
With heaps of slain, impetuous, intense ? 
Great battles he has fought and overthrown, 
Armies with eagles on their banners shewn." 

YI. 

So spoke the G-entoo ; and thus did (xama reply : 

" This whom thou seest, a shepherd was of flocks : 

Viriatus was the name we knew him by. 

More dexterous was with the lance, than with sheep-hooks. 

The fame of the Eoman arms he could defy. 

Invincible conqueror, their renown he took ; 

They felt not for him, no, nor could they feel nor own 

The generosity, before to Pyrrhus shewn : 

YII. 

" Not with force, but with cunning stratagem, 
That life they took, to them a cause of dread ; 
Urgent need with people, even of good name, 
Will sometimes break through good laws and good blood 

shed: 
Another is here, who 'gainst his country inflam'd 
With us degraded, dared lift up his head ; 
And wisely chose with whom he should arise, 
To gain an eternal fame that never dies. 



CANTO Till. 195 

VIII. 

*' Dost thou see him well ? With us he put to flight 
These favourite birds of Jupiter iu war ; 
Just at a time when all those warriors hight, 
The best amongst us, knew our chance was o'er : 
See what subtle art, and stratagem, and fight ; 
Towns to recover again, what inventions rare : 
The fatidical Stag behold, who gave advice ; 
That is Sertorius, and such was his device. 

IX. 

" Behold this other banner, see thereon painted 
The great Progenitor of the earliest kings : 
A brave Hungarian he is represented. 
Though Lorraine to herself his birth assigns ; 
After he had the warlike Moors surmounted, 
Grallicians, and Leonese cavaliers ; fate brings 
Henry to the holy Temple in holy war. 
The race of kings to sanctify still more." 



'* Who's this, pray tell me, this other, who alarms me,'* 

(Inquired the Malabar who seem'd to wonder) 

Who so many squadrons and people as I can see, 

With so few has beaten, and still seem running yonder ? 

So many rugged walls has broke through easily, 

So many battles given, nor tiring under. 

So many crowns has from many different lands 

Thrown at his feet, and standards from all hands ?" 

XI. 

"This is the first Alphonso," Grama replied, 

" Who the whole of Portugal took from the Moors ; 

To whom fame swore by the deep Stygian tide, 

Never to celebrate any E-oman more : 

This is that zealous, whom God did love and guide, 

By whose arm he did rule the inimical Moor ; 

By which he threw the walls of his kingdom down. 

Leaving nothing their descendants could call their own^ 



196 THE LTJSIAD. 

XII. 

" If Cesar, if Alexander the king, had led 
So smaU a force, or people so few did bring, 
Against as many enemies, as were those who made 
"War against, and were defeated by, this excellent king 
Believe not that their names had been arrayed 
In immortal glory so largely as now they shine : 
Bnt leave these actions of his inexplicable. 
And see how those of his vassals were memorable. 

XIII. 

This whom thou seest looking rather angry, 
At the pupil obstinate, as if much offended, 
"Who teUs him to collect his scattered army. 
And return to the place to be defended : 
The youth returns whom the old man sav'dfrom harm. 
But as a conqueror, who must have surrendered : 
Egas Moniz is the name of the brave old man, {y 3) 
To loyal vassals the mirror, this brightest one. 

XIT. 

" See here he goes with his sons, themselves to offer, 
"With halters round their necks, naked, to die willing, 
The youth would not submit as Moniz did proffer, 
And undertook he should to the Castillian : 
"Whom he advised, on this condition, to suffer 
The siege to be raised, but his Lord not fulfilling 
The same, was so saved, the penalty was the life, 
Of the faithful vassal, his children and his wife. 

XV. 

" More than did the consul, when he was surrounded,* 
Ignorantly shut up within the Caudine fork. 
And being forced to surrender he compounded, 
Disgracefully beneath Samnitic yoke : 
This by his own people's conduct wounded. 
Grave himself up, firm, and constant, to the stroke ; 
This other, besides himself surrender' d his boys, 
And blameless wife, a much greater sccrifice. 

• Spurius Posthumius. 



CANTO Till. 



107 



XYI. 

" But see wlio sallies fortli from tlie ambuscade, 
Attacking the king, besieging the strong town, 
IS'ow he has the kmg prisoner, and the siege has raised ; 
Illustrious deed, worthy even of Mars' renown ! 
See him here again in this armada pourtrayed, 
At sea likewise, to death the Moors putting down, 
Their galleys taking, achieving all the glory 
Of the first achieved maritime victory. 

XVII. 

" That is Don Fuas Eoupinho, who by land 

And also by sea, from both together shines. 

By that fire, which he lighted with a brand 

Prom Mount Abyla, and on the galleys flings : 

See how with such a just and holy war in hand, 

Whilst fighting he contentedly life resigns : 

Erom the hands of the Moors, passes the happy soul. 

Triumphant with the just palm to Heaven's goal, {yy) 

XYIII. 

" Seest thou in stranger garb a multitude 

Issue from the new grand armada to assist 

The first of oiu' kings in combat, when he stood 

Before Lisbon, when with holy proof they did resist ? 

Behold Henry, famous cavalier, so good 

That the palm that sprang from his sepulchre was blest : 

A miracle which Grod worked, as if to shew. 

That Germans are Christ's martyrs serving so.* 

XIX. 

" A priest behold,f who brandishes a sword 
Against Arronches, which he takes up to avenge 
Leiria, taken before by the Moorish horde 
Who for Mahomet couch the lance on battle plains : 
'Tis Prior Theotonius. But see the siege before 
Santarem, and thou shalt see what courage sustains 
The figure -on the walls, who first was seen as 
Poremost there with the banner of Das Quinas ; 

* This leg-end is mentioned by some ancient Portuguese chronicles. 
Henry was a native of Bonneville, near Cologne. His tomb, says 
Castera, is still to be seen in the Monastery of St. Vincent, but without 
the palm. — Mickle. 

t Dom Teotonio, prior of the convent of Augustine Friars in the 
city of Coimbra. 



198 THE LTJSIAD. 



" Do but look here, where Sancho overthrows 
The Moors of Yandalia in war extreme, 
Defeats them, kills the standard-bearer of his foes, 
And casts th' Hesperian banner to earth with shame ? 
That is Mem Moniz, who the same valour shews. 
Which bones in tomb of his father held amongst them ; 
Worthy of these banners, and the praise we owe 
To the lofty banner — ^waving o'er prostrate foe. 

XXT. 

" Behold there one, who comes down with his lance 
Bearing the two heads of the watchmen in his hand, 
Where th' ambuscade is hid, that cover' d his advance 
To the city, by daring, and attacks well planned : 
The city adopts for its arms the semblance 
Of the cavalier, who thus holds in his hand 
The two cold heads — : Deed never done before ! 
That brave breast is Giraldo Sem-pavor. {z 3) 

XXII. 

*' Seest thou not a Castillian,* who to resent some wrong 
By Alphonso, king the ninth ; with the ancient hate 
Of those of Lara, threw himself the Moors among, 
Of Portugal becoming enemy irate ? 
He takes the town of Abrantes, joined with the strong 
Infidels, whom he brought Avith him, in arms great ; 
But see, how a Portuguese with only a few 
O'ercame him, and boldlj'^ took him prisoner too. 

XXIII. 

" Martin Lopez is the name of the cavalier. 

Who for this both the palm and tbe laurel may hold, 

But see an Ecclesiastic warrior there, 

Who turns to lance of steel his crozier.of gold: 

See him among the dubious of those who were 

Por not refusing battle to the Moor so bold ? 

Behold the sign, which to him appeared in Heaven, 

By which to his few people strength was given, {b 4) 

* Don Pedro Fernandez de Castro. See note [a 4) 



CAl^TO Till. 199 

XXIT. 

" See ! There go tlie kings of Cordova and Seville, 
Broken, wifcli other two, and in no long time 
Broken ; but dead before — Miracle by the will 
Of Grod, and not by human arm but power divine ! 
Seest thou ? How the town of Alcacer humbly fell 
Without defence availing, or embattled line, 
To Dom Mattheus, Bishop of Lisbon, (alone) 
By whom the crown of palms was thereby won ? 

XXV. 

" See there a Mestre,* who from Castille descends, 

By nation Portuguese, who by conquest 

Takes the country of the Algarves, nor in it finds 

Any who by force of arms can him resist : 

With skill, force, and under a star benign. 

Towns, castles he takes with ladders in broad-day plac'd: 

Seest thou Tavilla taken ; driven out of doors, 

In avenging the death of seven Cagadores (c 4) 

XXYT. 

" See, how with warlike skill from the Moor he gains 
Silves, which he took before with force immense ? 
This is Dom Paio Correa, whose dexterous pains, 
And enterprise great, raised people's envy intense. 
But pass not by the three, who in France and Spain 
Made themselves so well known at others' expense. 
In joists, and duels, and in tournaments leaving, 
In these countries, public trophies of their achieving, 

XXVII. 

" Observe ! With name of adventurers they came 

To Castille, where they alone bore ofi" the prize 

From all Bellona's veritable game. 

Which with damage unto some they exercise ? 

See dead the proud cavaliers of great name, 

Whom the principal of the three to fight defies, {d 4) 

Gonzalo Hibeiro was the doughty name, 

Which well may resist the wave of Lethe's stream, 

♦ Don Payo Correo, Grand Master of the Order of Santiago. 



200 THE LIJSIAD. 



XXYIII. 



" Attend to one, whose fame so far transcends, 
That not one of ages past so much did gain. 
Who when his country, on a frail thread depends, 
Upon his own firm shoid.ders did her sustain : 
Do you see him red with ire, as he reprehends 
The vile diffidence inert, slackness insane 
Of the people, and brings them under the mild sway 
Of their natural king, no other to obey ? 

XXIX. 

"See how by his counsels, and his bravery, 
Guided by God alone, and his holy star, 
Alone he could, what impossible seem'd to ^e, 
Conquer the mighty power of Castille in war. 
See how by enterprise, valour, and industr}', 
Another carnage, and victory bright and fair 
He gains over the people infinite and keen. 
Who Tartessus, and Guadiana dwell between. 

XXX. 

" But seest thou not how almost broken through 
Is the power Lusitanian by the absence 
Of the Captain devout, apart from them, but who 
Praying invokes the high and trinal Essence ? 
Behold him quickly found by his own few, 
Who tell him, how they are without resistance 
Against such mighty force, and that him they seek, 
Tor that his presence would give courage to the weak. 

XXXI. 

" But with what holy confidence, behold. 
He answers them, that it was not time just then ; 
As one who to God did so securely hold 
JPor the victory, which afterwards they gain. 
So Pompilius, when that he was told 
The enemies the territory would retain. 
Whom he was then upon the point of beating, 
Eeplied, 'I am sacrificing, but not retreating.'* 

* Yid. Plut. in vit. Num. 



CANTO Tin. 201 

SXXII. 

" If of one wlio boldly so much tkrougli G-od coiild do, 
Thou desirest to hear, what should be the name, 
They ought to call him the Portuguese Scipio, 
But that Dom ISTuno Alvarez has greater fame, 
Happy the country who such son did know, 
More happy the father ; and whilst the sun shall beam 
Upon this globe of Ceres, and of Neptune, 
He must ever sigh for such an eleve as this one. 

XXXIII. 

" In the same war, behold what prizes gained 
By this other Captain with people few enough. 
Commanders, he conquers, and the flocks detained, 
"Which they daringly had robbed, and were driving off ; 
Once more behold the lance in blood is stained 
Of this hero, that he may free by such a proof 
His imprisoned friend, prisoner because loyal : 
By name Pedro Bodriguez of the Laudroal, (e 4) 

XXXIY. 

" See this disloyal, and how he was made to pay 
The perjiu^y he committed, and vile deceit ; 
Gril Pernandez he is, of Elvas, who in the fray. 
Punishes the giiilty with ultimate defeat:* 
Wasting the camp of Xeres, which almost flooded lay 
With the blood of his Castillian masters beat : 
But look at Bui Pereira, who sets his face (/4) 
And his shield towards the galleys, before the place. 

XXXY. 

"See how these seventeen Lusitanians (^ 4) . 
Upon this hill on high themselves defend 
Brayely against four hundred Castillians, 
Who to take them in retreat their line extend ; 
But afterwards being bravely met and feeling. 
That these not only could defend, but also offend : 
Peat worthy in the world, of record eterne : 
Great in the ancient times, and in the modern. 

" * Wliile Portugal was divided, some holding- for the new king- 
John, others with the king of Castille, Roderick Marin, governor of 
Campo IMaior declared for the latter. Fernando d' Elvas, endeavour- 
ing to gain him over to his native prince was seized, and made 



202 , THE LUSIAD. 

XXXYI. 

'•' They know liow tliat anciently, three hundred only 

Have against a thousand Eomans kept their ground, 

In times, when th' illustrious achievements manly 

Of Yiriatus were so much renowned : 

And of these achieving various and many 

So memorably left, inherited and owned. 

That the many, though we are few, we never fear, 

Which thousands of times since we have shown most clear. 

XXXYTI. 

" See here two Infantes, Don Pedro, Don Henry, 
The generous descendants both of John : 
The one illustrious fame acquiring early 
In Germany, whom death cut oft' so soon : 
The other Infante, who was well known by sea 
As a discoverer, and who took down 
At Ceuta, the Moor's boasted valour great, 
Entering the foremost at the city gate. 

XXXVIII. 

" Seest thou the Count Dom Pedro, who sustained (A 4) 

Two sieges against the whole of Barbary ? 

Behold another Count is there who might have claimed (i 4) 

To be Mars on earth, in force and bravery ! 

Not content with having power to defend 

Alcacere from the numerous company ; 

But to defend his sovereign's life so dear. 

He set his own as a wall, and lost it there. 

XXXIX. 

*' Many others thou mightst have seen, that the painters 

Had also here most certainly represented ; 

Eut they were without colours, pencils, paint, or 

Honour, premium, favour, which for art are wanted : • 

-Fault only of the vicious successors, 

"Who degenerate, and wander from the vaunted 

Lustre, and valour of their fathers we admire. 

In tastes, and vanities sunk in the mire. 

prisoner. — Elvas escaping- met his enemy in the field— whom he in 
turn made captive — and notwithstanding- the endeavours of th^ir 
Captain to save his Hfe — he met the reward of his treason &om the 
soldiers of Elvas. — Castera, 



CAKTO VIII. 203 

XL. 

*' Those illustrious fathers who have made 

A beginning to the race on them depending, 

By virtue alone then many great things did, 

That they might leave a house from them descending. 

Blindness ! That the toils and prowess they displayed 

The lofty fame, and renown from them extending, 

Leave their descendants but in more obscurity, 

A worn out corrupt debauched posterity. 

XLI. 

" Others there are also, great excellent, complete ; 
Without an illustrious trunk from whence they came, 
Fault of the kings, who at times to a favourite 
Give more than to thousands of courage, wisdom, fame : 
These men of theirs they wish not in painting to meet, 
Believing vain colours not becoming to them ; 
And as a consequence quite natural. 
Pictures that speak they do not like at all. 

XLII, 

" I deny not, that there are in all descendants, 
Prom the generous trunk, and house of note, 
Those who with lofty bearing, conduct excellent, 
Sustain the nobility left them as they ought. 
And if the lustre of their great descent, 
May not brighten the ancient valour of men of note, 
At least it is not lost, nor rendered obscure : 
But of these we find but little for portraiture." 

XLIII, 

Thus Gama the great achievements did declare, 

There shown in pictures variously tinted, 

"Which the learned hand, so skilful and so clear, 

With singular dexterity had painted. 

The Catual, with fixed eyes, continued to stare. 

At the silent history visibly presented : 

A thousand times enquired, and as often heard, 

Of the pleasing incidents that there appeared. 



20-^ THE LUSIAD. 



XLIT. 



But now the day-liglit appearing dubious, 

Because the great Lamp in Heaven had passed away, 

Hiding beneath the horizon luminous, 

And carrying to far Antipodes the day ; 

When the Grentoo, and the people generous 

Of the N aires, from the large vessel the boats convey, 

To seek the repose which refreshes more than light, 

The weary animals during quiet night. 

XLT. 

Meanwhile the Haruspices celebrated 

In false opinion, which in cases doubtful 

Always foresee in sacrifices, the fated. 

Signs diabolical, sought to guide the thoughtful, 

By command of the king himself, officiated, 

Exercising their art, and not without skill, 

Upon this coming of this people strange. 

Who to their country came from unknown Spains. 

XLYI. 

The signs the demon shows are veritable. 
How that the new-come people to them shall be 
Perpetual yoke, captivity durable. 
Destruction of people and their validity. 
The astonished Augur hastens in great trouble 
To tell the King (according as he did foresee) 
The dreadful indications discovered in 
The entrails of the victims he had seen, 

. XLYII. 

To this he added, that to a devout 

Priest of the holy law of Mahomet's creed, 

Eetaining all those hatreds not remote : 

Against the Paith Divine, which all exceeds ; 

In the form of that Prophet false, and of great note. 

Who did from the son of the slave Agar proceed, 

Bacchus full of hate in his dreams came up. 

Whose enmities he was not yet disposed to drop : 



CANTO Till. 205 



XLVIII. 



And tlms to him spoke : " Beware, people mine. 
Of the ill that is prepared by the enemy, 
That travels hither over the watery brine, 
Before that nearer the danger you may be." 
Thus saying, the Moor awoke quickly at the time^ 
Startled at the dream ; but not minding it, he 
Thought it no more than a common vision vain, 
Turned to sleep in quiet tranquillity again. 

XLIX. 

Bacchus returned, saying : "Knowest thou not 
The great legislator, who to thy forefathers 
Laid down the precept thou ob serve st devout, 
"Wanting which ye had been all baptized together ? 
I for thee watch, and sleepest thou still, sot ? 
Then thou must know, that those who have come hither 
Just now, shall do great mischief ; and shall disgrace 
The law I gave to the foolish human race. 



" And whereas the force of this people is but frail, 
Order that in all things they should be resisted ; 
Eor when the sun is rising, one can well 
Look at him sharply, with eyebrow unassisted : 
But after he has risen brightly, the eyes fail, 
Unable to gaze on him, as we at first did. 
So blinder shall ye be, the longer ye delay. 
If where ye would weed ye take not the roots away. 

LI. 

This said, he and the dream both disappear : 
Trembling remained the astonished Agarene ; 
He leaps from bed, bids servants bring lights there, 
The fervid venom beginning to work is seen. 
Soon as the new light, preceding the solar glare. 
Showed its angelic countenance serene, 
He convoked the principals of the torpid sect, 
To whom of his dreams he gave account direct. 



206 THE LUSIAD. 

Lir. 

Diverse opinions, and contradictions 
They gave there, according as they understood : 
Cunning treasons, various deceptions. 
Invented perfidies, woven out of what was good ; 
But leaving counsels rash in dereliction, 
Destruction of the strangers was most approved, 
By wiles the most subtle, and stratagems still more, 
With bribes gaining over every Eegedor. 

LTII. 

"With bribes, with gold, likewise with gifts in secret. 
They conciliate the principals of the land ; 
And with reasons plausible, and discreet, 
They show they would be perdition to all hands ; 
Saying : they are unquiet men of much deceit, 
"Who roam the western seas, a vagrant band, 
Living only by their piracy and rapine, 
Without king, without laws, or human or divine. 

LIT. 

Oh, how carefully ought the king who would govern well, 
See that the counsellors, or favourites employed, 
With conscience, and with innate virtue still, 
And with sincere regard should be endowed ; 
Because he, seated supreme, upon whose will 
All rests, cannot well know more about the crowd 
And external affairs, whether right or wrong, 
Than he can gather from the counsellor's tongue. 

LY. 

Nor as little would I say that he should take 
In gross and by itself the conscience pure, and clean, 
Which under an humble guise its way may make, 
Where ambition perchance walks covered and unseen. 
And when one is good, just and holy, he may lack 
Knowledge of worldly affairs to guide a king ; 
Not well of these could the account be kept, 
By quiet innocence, only with God adept. 



CANTO YIII. 207^ 

LVT. 

But tliese avaricious Catuals, 
Who governed the Gentoo population, 
Induced by the machinations infernal, 
Delay the promised despatch in preparation. 
But Grama, who was little affected by all, 
That the Moors had put in silent operation, 
Except to his King a signal proof to bear 
Of the world, he was to leave discovered there : 

LYII. 

For this alone he worked, as well he knew. 
That after he should make known this enterprise, 
A-rms, ships, and people should be sent enow. 
By Emanuel, who the high power did exercise ; 
Wherewith to his yoke and law he should subdue 
These territories, and the sea that round them lies : 
That he was an explorer diligent no more. 
Of these Oriental lands, he was sent to explore. 

LVIII. 

To speak to the G-entoo King he did determine, 

To return with his despatch to be allowed ; 

For in all things he felt that the people malign 

Were anxious to impede him in all they could. 

The King, who at the notice false, and indign, 

Was now disposed to think as they wished he would ; 

Being so very credulous in his augurs, 

Especially when they were confirmed by the Moors : 

LIX. 

This apprehension cooled the narrow mind ; 
And then there was the force of covetousness, 
To which he was by nature much inclined. 
Warmed an immortal wish within his breast : 
He well perceived, the great profit to be gained. 
If with truth, and with justice, for his interest. 
The treaty could be made for trading beyond seas, 
Offered to him by the King of the Portuguese. 



'208 THE LrSIAD. 



LX. 

Upon this point in the councils, he was surprised : 

To meet with very contrary opinions ; 

As amongst those by whom h^ was advised. 

Money to work its mischief was beginning. 

The great Captain he commanded to be apprised : 

To come before him, when he said, " If thou art willing 

To confess to me the truth quite naked and pure, 

Eree pardon for thy guilt thou shalt secure. 

LXI. 

*' I am well informed, that the embassy 

"Which from thy King thou gavest me, is feigned, 

For neither hast thou King nor beloved country. 

But in wandering about, has thy life been maintained. 

For who in farthest off distant Hesperia could be 

King, or Lord, so immeasurably insane 

As to come and undertake with fleets and ships 

Such uncertain voyages, such distant trips. 

LXII. 

" And if of great and powerful kingdoms 

The Boyal Majesty to thy King belongs. 

What valuable present with thee for me comes, {k 4) 

Token that thy incognito truth is strong. 

With high sumptuous gifts, and pieces wrought in looms, 

They bind the friendships of high kings for long. 

What token or j^ledge ? we must have stronger proof; 

Words of vagrant navig^ator are not enough, 

EXIII. 

" If, possibly, thou comest banished thence, 
Whether a man of high condition or a knave, 
In my kingdom still thou shalt have maintenance. 
All the earth is the patrimony of the brave : 
Or if ye be pirates to the sea used perchance, 
Tell me without fear of death or life of slave : 
Por in every age self-preservation. 
Has made vital necessity the law of nations." 



CAifTo Yin. 209 



LXIV. 



TMs so said, Gama, wlio now entertained 

Suspicion of the snares that had been laid 

By hatred Mahometan, whence had been obtained 

All that was so bad in what the King had said : 

With lofty confidence, becomingly maintained, 

With which his credit so secure was made, 

That Acidalian Yenus gave eloquence, 

To the wise breast in these words delivered thence : 

LXT. 

" If the ancient crimes, that human wickedness 

Committed in the first age of humanity. 

Did not fill that cup of iniquity to excess, 

And cause the cruel scourge of Christianity, 

With its perpetual enmity to distress 

The generation of Adam, with insanity, • 

powerful King of the sect in this condition. 

Thou couldst not eyen conceive such evil suspicion. 

liXYI. 

" But since men can to no benefit reach or grope, 
Without great oppressions, and in ev'ry success 
Apprehension follow still the steps of hope. 
Which lives ever in the sweat of its own breast, 
Thou showest me so little confidence, and dost stop 
This my tale of truth ; without hearing the rest 
Of arguments to the contrary, thou wilt find 
Thou hast believed, whom to doubt thou shouldst have 
inclined. 

LXYII, 

" For if I had only lived by rapine : been 

A vagrant, or from country expatriated. 

How think' st thou that so far I could be seen 

To seek an unknown retreat so situated ? 

By what expectations, or for what interest keen. 

Would I come exposed to seas so agitated, 

The Antarctic frosts, and ardent heats that damn 

The sufiering inhabitants beneath the Earn ? 



210 THE LITSIAD. 



LXTIII. 

" If great presents, gifts of highest estimation, 
Thou askest of me in support of what I say, 
I came but to seek the strange clime's situation, 
Whereabouts in nature thy ancient kingdom lay. 
But if Fortune so much favour expectation. 
That return to my country, and loved King I may, 
Then shalt thou see the gift superb and rich, 
Wbich to certify my return to thee I should fetch. 

LXIX. 

" If to thee it seems an act incredible. 

That a King of far Hesperia sends me to thee, 

To the heart sublime and royal, much seems possible, 

And nothing that is possible great seems to be. 

It is clear that the plan noble and feasible 

Of the Lusitanian spirit deserved from thee 

Grreater credit, faith of higher dignity, 

"Which might have trusted so much intrepidity. 

LXX. 

" Know that it is many years since our ancient kings 
Firmly resolved to attempt to overcome 
The difficulties, perils, and all other things, 
For great undertakings ever must meet with some ! 
And discovering the roaring sea which brings 
Disturbance to earth's repose, they then should come 
To know what bounds it had, and where it laves 
The farthest shores chafed by its angry waves. 

LXXI. 

" Conception worthy of the illustrious branch 

From tlie adventurous King,* who first sailed through 

The sea to go and the loved nest to wrench 

From Abyla's people, last of the Moorish crew : 

This, by his industry and ingenious research. 

To one log of wood adding another, and joining the two, 

Could discover that part which shews the light 

Of Argo, of Hydra, of Libra and Ara bright. 

* John I. 



CANTO YIII. 211 



LXXIT. 



" Increasing witb the earliest successes good, 
The boldness of the breast, they did pass over 
By little and little, far strange ways and rude, 
Which some succeeded by others did discover. 
Of Africa the inhabitants of its farthest latitude 
Austral, by whom the seven flames have been seen never, 
Were seen by us, leaving far behind us in coasting, 
As many as may be under the tropics roasting. 

LXXIII. 

" Thus with firm breast, and becoming greatness 
Of purpose, we find that we can fortune conquer, 
Until in thy strange territory our success 
Enables us to place our last marking stone here : 
Breaking through the liquid pewter's fervid surface, 
And the horrific tempest furious ; blovni where 
To thee we are come, and only ask that we 
May carry a message to our King from thee. 

LXXIT. 

" This is the truth. King ; for I will not in vain 

Por such uncertain good, so frail a success, 

As were the case not so, I could hope to gain, 

Make such a long, feigned, and very needless address : 

But rather would quietly at rest remain, 

In the ever-restless lap, the proper place 

Of mother Tethys, like wicked pirate, such 

As by the toil of others there make themselves rich, 

LXXV. 

" And thus, O King, if my great veracity 
Thou takest for what it is, open and sincere, 
Connect me with the despatch in brevity. 
Impede not the relish of my return there ; 
And if still falsehood may appear to thee. 
Be careful that with good reason the proof is clear, 
Eor with clear judgment any one can see : 
That truth may be understood very easily." 



212 THE LTJSIAD. 

LXXYI. 

Attentive was tlie King to the assurance 
"Wherewith Grama proved the truth of what he said ; 
Conceiving in him a certain confidence, 
Giving firm credit to the statement he had made : 
He weighed the honest words in their abundance, 
Finds in the authority there was much conveyed ; 
Begins to regard as deceived or malicious, 
The Catuals corrupt and injudicious. 

LXXVII. 

Then with this was joined cupidity, the gain 
Expected by the Lusitanian contract, 
Makes him still more respect and entertain 
The Captain rather than the Moor with one fact. 
In short, he commands Grama directly then 
To go to the ships, secure from stop or contact, 
That he might send on shore any kind of goods, 
That for spiceries, exchange or sell, he would. 

LXXTIII.^ 

In short, he also commands him ashore to send 
Whate'er in the Gangetic kingdoms may not be : 
If any such he had brought from the further end 
Of earth the limit, and where begins the sea. 
Now from the royal presence to unbend. 
The Captain withdrew to ask from Catual, he 
Who of all such matters had the exclusive charge ; 
A boat or canoe, his own being then at large. 

LXXIX. 

A boat to take him to the ships, he requested : 
But the wicked Kegedor, who just then new snares 
Was preparing, conceded nothing, nor assisted : 
To interpose delays and embarrassments prefers ; 
With him he goes to the quay, because this led 
As far as possible from the royal palace, where, 
Unless his King had notice, he might do. 
Whatever his malignity prompted him to, 



CANTO VIII, 213 

LXXX. 

There, at a little distance out, he told him lay 
A boat sufficient to carry him on board ; 
Or that till the coming light of the future day 
He should defer his departure ; time to aiford : 
Now Grama understood from this delay. 
That the G-entoo was consenting, and of accord 
In the evil design of the base and cruel Moors, 
"Which, as to him, he did not understand before. 

LXXXI. 

This Catual was one of those who had been 
Corrupted by the base Mahometan sect ; 
The principal by whom they governed unseen. 
The cities of the powerful Samorim unsuspect : 
By him alone the Moors hoped, and thus begin 
To give their deceitful intentions full effect ; 
He, who thus the vile conspiracy props. 
In this case took but little by his hopes. 

LXXXII. 

Gama insisted, that immediately 

He should send him on board the vessels without fail 5 

And if he gave no such orders, then that he 

Should refer to the successor of Perimal. 

Por what reason thus impede him, and delay 

The sending on shore productions of Portugal ? 

Since that which kings have commanded cannot wait, 

Nor can be by any others derogate. 

LXXXIII. 

Little obeys the Catual corrupt. 
Any such words, but rather considering 
In his own fancy, some subtle and abrupt 
Diabolical deceit, stupendous, withering; 
Or seeing how his return might interrupt, 
In hated blood to bathe brutal iron therein, 
Or how the ships he might set on fire and burn, 
That no one to his country should ever return. 



214 THE LUSIAD. 

LXXXIY. 

That not one shall to his country return intends 
The infernal council of the Mahometans, 
That never may be known how far the land extends 
Eastward by the King of the Lusitanians. 
Grama in short, quits not the shore, and depends 
On the E-egedor of the profane barbarians ; 
Without whose license there was no proceeding, 
As all Indian boats to take him were forbidden. 

LXXXY. 

To the noise and arguments of the Capitan, 
Th' idolator replied, that he should order then 
The vessels to come close in, being far from land, 
That better access to and fro he should obtain. 
That it was the sign of enemy and ladrao, 
That the fleet so far out should at anchor remain, 
(He said) because the certain and faithful friend 
Never from his friend can danger apprehend. 

LXXXTI. 

In these words the judicious Gama came 

To discover that the vessels were wanted near 

By the Catual, that he might with sword and flame 

Attack them, acknowledging then the hate they bare 

In various thoughts and plans considering then, 

Fancying some remedy to discover there, 

That'he might apply to so much evil prepared, 

He dreaded all ; and finally for all things cared. 

LXXXYII. 

As the light reflected from the polished mirror darts 

From the shining steel or the crystal beauteous, 

"When this is stricken by the solar ray, imparts 

To another place rays bright and luminous ; 

And up and down and about the house ever starts. 

Moved by idle hand of youthful novice curious ; 

Over walls and roof flying dissociated, 

Here trembling, and there into parts separated. 



CA.^TO Till. 215 

LXXXYIII. 

So the vague judgment of G-ama fluctuated, 

A prisoner on shore, when he recollected 

Coelho, if perchance the boats awaited 

Him on the shore, as he had in fact directed : 

Afterwards he secretly had intimated 

That they should return to the fleet, as he expected 

It might be attacked now through the fraud and deceit 

Of the fierce Mahometans he was likely to meet. 

LXXXIX. 

So must it be to whoever with the gift of Mars 
"Would imitate the great, and be equal to them ; 
Ply with the thought to all and every part, 
Eoresee and divine dangers, and so eschew them ; 
With military genius, and subtle art, 
Understand the enemies, — and still see through them ; 
Think all things possible, — in short, none ever praise. 
The Captain who " who could have thought it ? " ever says. 

xc. 

The Malabar insists on detaining him there, 
If he orders not the armada close in shore ; 
He is firm, and influenced with noble ire. 
All his menaces he fears not a whit the more ; 
But rather he chooses on himself to bear 
"Whatever of the vile malignity they bore 
Was then preparing, than to place at a venture 
The fleet of his King, which then lay safe at anchor. 

XCT. 

During all that night Grama was there detained, 
And part of the next day, when he was ordered 
To return to the King ; but yet, still there remained 
Of the guard, not a few, by which he was guarded. 
The Gentoo another proposal entertained, 
Fearing from his King, punishment awarded, 
If he knew this malice ; soon to be ascertained, 
If any longer time he was there detained. 



216 THE LrSIAD. 



XCII. 



He told him, to order all the merchandise 
Saleable, that he carried, to be brought on shore, 
That slowly they might barter, and sell, otherwise 
Whoever desires not commerce seeketh war. 
Although the evil designs of his enemies 
Grama understood, which the base breast hid there. 
He consents, because he knew for a verity 
That with the merchandize he purchased liberty. 

XCIII. 

They arrange that the negro shall order out 
Fit embarkations with which they shaU come ; 
As he would not venture his own boats about 
Where the enemy might detain them, or take some. 
Thus from the shore proceed the Indian boats 
Spanish merchandize to seek from his brother, to whom 
It was requisite he should write that he should send 
The goods, with which his ransom was to be obtained. 

XCIY. 

The merchandize comes to land, where it was quickly 

Beceived with welcome by th' infamous Catual ; 

With it stop Alvarez, and Diogo, who directly 

Were empowered for what it was worth the whole to sell. 

If more than obligation ; commands, entreaty. 

In the bosom vile ; the price he trimmed, and made small, 

Well the Grentoo shewed those who understood, 

That Gama was then liberated for the goods. 

xcv. 

For these he released him, believing he had there 
SufScient pledge, from which he should have gained 
More profit than he was likely to have or share, 
If the Captain longer time he on shore detained. 
He seeing that now he did not further care 
To return to the land, as he could not be constrained 
To stay there longer, being arrived at the ships, 
In them to rest himself he most wiUingiy stops. 



CAl^^TO YIII. 217 



XCVI. 



In the ships lie continued to stay and linger on, 
Until he could see what time would discover, for 
Now he put no faith in that most covetous one 
The corrupt, and little noble E^egedor. 
Let the curious judgment now reflect upon. 
How much in the rich man, as well as in the poor, 
The vile love of gain, and thirst inimical 
For money can do, which drives us to do all, 

XCTII. 

Polydorus was murdered by the King of Thrace, 
Only that the golden treasure he might hold ; 
Easily the shower entered the strong edifice 
To the daughter of Acrisius, when of gold : 
Such power with Tarpeia had avaricious vice, 
That for the shining metal Eome was sold, 
And the lofty tower given to the enemies. 
By which payment almost overwhelmed, she dies. 

XCYIII. 

This rends the strongest fortified places, 
Makes traitors of even the very best of friends : 
Makes the most noble stoop to acts of baseness : 
Delivers captains into the enemy's hands — 
This corrupts virginal purities and graces, 
"Without fear about honour, fame, or law's amends, 
This depraves sometimes even the sciences. 
The sleeping understandings, and the consciences. 

xcix. 

This serves to interpret more than subtilely 
The texts ; this often makes, often unmakes laws ; 
This causes perjury amongst people vilely. 
And a thousand times of tyrants has been the cause, 
Until those who to Grod Omnipotent solely 
Themselves dedicate, a thousand times disclose, 
That this shining enchanter corrupts, and hurts you ; 
But not without sb colour, withal, of virtue. 



CANTO IX. 



I. 

LoNa time they tried to dispose of in the city 
The goods, hut the two factors could sell none. 
For the infidels by deceit and falsity 
Persuaded merchants to let these goods alone : 
Their whole intent and wish so far from amity 
"Was, that these discoverers should not be gone 
Until the ships from Mecca could return, 
That they might their vessels take, destroy and burn. 

II. 

There in the Erythrean bay, where Arsinoe 

"Was founded by Egyptian Ptolemy, 

With the name of his sister, but which now we know 

To be Suez, built on an isthmus by the sea ; 

Erom the port it is not very far to go 

To the city of Mecca, which increased must be 

By the base superstition false and profane. 

Of the religious water Mahometane. 

III. 

Gidah is the name of the port in which the trade 
Of the whole shore of the Eed sea flourished most. 
Whereof great gain was received, and profit made 
By the Sultan, who possessed this kingdom and coast. 
Erom thence to the Malabarese, by treaty for trade 
With the infidels, a fleet of large vessels crossed 
The Indian Ocean, a splendid company, where 
They came in search of spicery every year. 



CAI^^TO IX. 219 



IT. 



By tliese ships expected by the Moors to come then, 
They hoped, as they were large, and formidable, 
That these, now about to take the commerce from them, 
"With crackling flames to burn they should be able. / 
This succour so much did they rely upon then, 
That now they wish no more from the stranger people, 
Except that long enough time they should remain, 
To allow the ships from Mecca the port to gain. 

V. 

But the great Governor of the Heavens and men, 
AVho, for whatever His will may be inclined, 
From afar provides the means convenient when 
And where He would bring about the end designed ; 
Instilled pious sentiments by accident then, 
Into the heart of Mongaide, who was of a mind 
And ready to give to Grama proper advice. 
And thus to prove himself worthy of Paradise. 

VI. 

This, respecting whom, if the Moors were off their guard, 
Being Moor like themselves, it was because before 
Participating in their designs ; he had heard 
Their intentions base ; and saw of their wild hate more. 
Many times the ships that lay at a distance moored 
He went to see, and in pity did deplore 
The damage, without reason, the cruel design 
Gf the Mahometan people so malign. 

YII. 

He informed the cautious Gama of the armadas, 
"Which came from Arabian Mecca ev'ry year. 
About which their own people were wondrous glad, as 
Soon to arrive and destroy the armada here : 
He tells him they come, loaded with desperadoes. 
And of Yulcan's horrid thunder did plenty bear. 
And that by them he should certainly not be spared, 
If that he happened to be off his guard. 



220 THE LTJSIAD. 



Till. 



Grama, who knew and also liad considered well 
That the season for his departure loudly called, 
And that dispatch he no more hoped, nor could compel 
From such a king as the Mahometans extolled ; 
To the traders then on shore he sent, to tell 
Them to return on board : and lest by any hold. 
Their sudden quitting the land might be impeded. 
He commanded them to steal away unheeded. 

IX. 

But much time had not elapsed, ere a rumour flew 
About, that sounded very much like truth, 
That the traders were made prisoners, when the two 
Were about to leave the city in good sooth. 
This report reached the ears, and the attention drew 
Of the wise Captain, who with brevity smooth 
Made instantly prisoners in the ships, of some 
Who to sell precious stones on board had come, 



Those people were ancient merchants, very well known 
In Calecut, as being rich and much esteemed ; 
When missed and it became known where they had gone, 
By the rest, that they were detained on board they deemed. 
But now, in the ships the good seamen ev'ry one, 
The capstan turn ; and for his work each ready seemed, 
Some take up and stow the cable, move each spar. 
Others with firm breasts boldly breaking through the bar. 

XI. 

Others hung from the yards, and now let loose 

The sails, that with loud shouts they broad display ; 

When some on shore with greater shouts the King confuse 

With the tale of those the armada carried away: 

The women and sons who consolation refuse, 

Eor those carried off prisoners, find their way 

To the Samorim, and complain, amongst others, 

They had lost their husbands some, and some their fathers, 



CANTO IX. 221 



XII. 



He then sends off the Lusitanian traders 

With all their merchandise freely forth and at once, 

Notwithstanding his Mahometan persuaders ; 

That they may the detained return to their wives and sons. 

Excuses the King sends off for his bravadoes : 

The captain receives with better mind and tones 

The prisoners, than th' excuses: and without fail 

Eeturns some blacks, — weighs anchor, and sets sail. 

XTII. 

He leaves the lowly shore, when he comprehends 

That all his endeavours with the King are vain 

To secure a peace with him, and to be friends. 

Commercial treaties firmly to maintain. 

But leaving that land which far to the East extends. 

He did now thereof sufficient knowledge gain : 

With whichgood newshenow turned towards home beloved, 

Taking wherewith his discoveries could be proved, 

XIY. 

These were some Malabarese, whom by force he seized 
From among those whom the Samorim had sent out, 
When he sent back the traders, from prison released : 
He carries burning pepper, which he bought: 
Likewise the dried flower of Banda, taking the best. 
The nutmeg, and the dark clove, to be sought ^ 
In the new isle of Malucco ; and cinnamon, 
Which celebrates and enriches fair Ceylon. 

XV. 

All these he had obtained through the diligence 

Of faithful Mon^aide, whom he also brought ; 

Who being inspired with angelic influence, 

To be recorded in the book of Christ, had sought : 

Oh ! happy African, whom benevolence : 

Divine, thus out of obscure darkness had taught. 

So far from thy country, thus to find a way 

To ascend to that true country that lasts for aye ! 



222 THE LUSIAD. 

XVI. 

The adventurous vessels from the burning shore 

Coming avray thus, and directing the prow 

To where nature herself had marked out long before 

The southern limit to which Good Hope could go : 

Happy tidings bearing back, and something more, 

Home from the far unknown East unto Lisboa, 

Again encountering the incertitudes 

Of th' inconstant sea, its lightniag storms, and floods. 

XYII. 

The pleasure of arriving at our native land, 

To see the penates dear, and friends again, 

To teU of wonderful discoveries, and 

Eare navigation, strange skies, and stranger men ; 

To come to enjoy the reward and welcome bland 

After such labours, and grievous accidents ; then 

Is to each one such perfect gratification. 

That the heart, like narrow vase, needs dilatation, 

XYIII. 

But the Cyprian Goddess, who was then disposed, 
Greatly in favour of the Portuguese, 
By the Father Eternal, out of good- will chose, 
Now, for long years, to guide them o'er the seas ; 
To glorify labours achieved ; for grievous woes 
Satisfaction to afford ; for sufferings ease ; 
She now made preparation, and meant no less 
Than amid sad seas, to give them some happiness. 

XIX. 

After having a little while revolved 

In her mind the great sea they had navigated ; 

The labours, in which the God had them involved, 

"Whom Amphionean Thebes originated : 

Having already long at heart resolved, 

As recompense for ills so accumulated 

To find them some delight, some haven the best 

In the kingdom of liquid pure, for peace and rest. 



CAITTO IX. 223 



XX. 



Some repose, in short, by which they might be able 
To refresh the weak humanity so worn, 
Of her navigators ; result agreeable 
Of that labour, which abbreviates life's brief morn. 
That she should tell this design, seemed reasonable 
To her son, by whose mighty power, or by whose scorn 
The gods are made to descend to vile earth amain, 
And mortals to ascend to the heaven serene. 

XXI. 

This having well considered, she resolved and planned 
To have prepared for them upon the breast 
Of the waters, some Isle divine of fertile land. 
Adorned, enamelled, in richest verdure drest : 
Many she has in the kingdom, and at hand. 
Of those the first above the watery waste, 
Besides those whereof the sovereign possession 
She held within the Pillars Herculesian. 

XXII. 

There she vdshed the damsels of the waters 

To await the arrival of the Barons brave, 

All with pretensions to such beauty as scatters 

The glory of eyes, and pain to hearts that gave, 

With dances and round-abouts ; for in such matters 

Secret affections greater influence have, 

Eor then more readily some strive to satisfy • 

Those whom they fancy, and attract their fantasy. 

SXIII. 

Such wiles she tried ; as when Anchises' son 

Was received so kindly, and by love beguiled 

Where were laid of a mighty state the foundation stone, 

Finding space by stratagem, where Venus smiled : 

She goes to seek her son ; for in him alone 

She has all her power, relentless Cupid wild ! 

And as in the old affair she aided him : in this other 

He willingly assists and follows his mother. 



^24 THE LrsiAD. 



XXIY. 

To het car slie yokes the birds, who before they die 

Sing only when their obsequies celebrating ; 

And in the air around the goddess fly 

The doves, Peristera once, sweet small flowers pecking. 

Or circling aloft in air, kiss amorously : 

With their soft movements and cooing voices, making 

The air, the wind, wherever she moves, serene. 

The flowers more blooming, and the fields more green. 

XXY. 

And now above Idalian mounts she hovers. 

Where the archer-son was occupied just then 

Joining with many others ; in their endeavours 

To raise a famous expedition again 

Against the rebel world ; its great errors 

To amend, for in such too long they had been, 

Loving the things unto us given but for use, 

And not that we should love them, which was abuse. 

XXYI. 

He saw Actseon in the chase aastere, . - . - . 

Elind in the brutal sport, as if insane. 

Who, to follow an ugly wild animal there, 

Plies from his kind, and the beauteous form humane : 

And he would for chastisement, soft but still severe, 

Shew him Diana's beauteous form again ; 

And let him see he be not eaten by and bye 

By these dogs, which now he loves so consummately.* 

XXVII. 

And he saw that of the world the principals. 

There was no one thought at all of the public good : 

And in those, who having love for nothing else. 

But themselves, and for what Philancia says they should : 

Saw those, who frequent Eoyal Palaces, and sell 

Adulation for truth and as sound doctrine good, 

Who never could consent to such a thing. 

As to weed the young wheat when green and flourishing. 

* Allusion to King Sebastian, 



CA:jfTo IX. 225 

XXYIII. 

Saw also tliose, wlio to starving poverty, 
Owe love divine, and to the people charitj, 
Love only power, and riches ; such we see 
Pretending justice and integrity : 
Of ugly tyranny, and of harsh decree 
They make direct, and vain severity : 
Laws for the king alone establish they, 
Those for the people only fade away. 

XXIX. 

He sees, in short, no one loves what he ought ; 
On the contrary, only what is wrong desires : 
He is unwilling they shall longer go without 
The severe but yet just punishment each requires. 
To assemble his little loves he sets about, 
Eor armies that shall scatter forth love's fires. 
In the battle he expects to fight with those 
"Whose disobedience drew on them such foes. 

XXX. 

Many of these little children gaily flying, 
"Were seen in various manners labouring. 
Some to whet iron arrow-points were trying, 
Others the tiny shafts were tapering ; 
"While working, they were singing of lovers dying, 
Of chances various the modulations ring, 
In sonorous melody, harmony complete. 
Angelic the sound, the versification sweet. 

XXXI. 

In the forges immortal where they hammered out, 
For the swift arrows the points penetrating, 
Eor fuel, burning hearts were tossed about. 
And living entrails that still were palpitating ; 
The waters, in which they tempered the irons stout, 
Are tears from miserable lovers emanating : 
The vivid flame, with undying light that illumes 
Is but desire, which burns, and never consumes. 
L 2 



226 THE LrSIAD. 

XXXII. 

Some went about tlie ready Hand exercising ' 

Upon the hard heart of the rude plebeian : 
The sounds of broken sighs through air were rising 
Of persons wounded by the sharp arrow flying : 
Beautiful nymphs are those who in sympathising 
Did cure the wounds received, which aid in supplying, 
Not only they gave life to those who wounds did mourn, 
But even brought those into life who were unborn. 

XXXIII. 

Beautiful some are seen and others ugly, 

According to the quality of the wounds : 

As the venom scattered through the veins may be, 

Bough remedies for cure are sometimes found. 

Some remain in chains continually 

By subtle words of the wise Magi boimd : 

This oftwhiles happens, when it is ascertained 

That the arrows secret herbs in them contained. 

XXXIV. 

Of these shafts so confusedly directed, 
That the boys so awkwardly kept throwing ofi", 
A thousand amours incongruous are suggested 
Amongst the people wounded, miserable enough : 
And also our heroes of high estate so molested, 
A thousand instances present of impure love. 
Like those of the girls Biblis and Cinyrea ; 
One youth of Assyria, another of Judea. 

XXXV. 

And oh, ye powerful, by shepherdesses 
Ofttimes ye have seen your bosoms deeply hit ; 
And for the base and rude, your mistresses, 
Likewise have caught you in old Yulcan's net. 
In nocturnal hours expecting unseen faces, 
Some go, or on walls do climb, or on roofs do get ; 
But I believe, all this unworthy Love has done, 
Is more the fault of the mother, than of the son. 



CANTO IX. 



XXXYI. 



227 



But now fhe light car upon tlie verdant mead 
Is by the milk-wkite swans quietly drawn, 
And Dione, who the roses the snow amid 
In her visage wears, steps diligently down. 
The archer, who against Heaven in warfare did 
Contend, comes glad to receive her, his joy to own; 
There likewise come all the Cupids' servidores, 
JDo kiss the hand of the goddess of amours. 

XXXTII. 

She, not to waste the passing time in vain, 
Holding her son embraced, in confidence says : 
*' Beloved son, in whose hand sovereign 
Securely founded all my power lays ; 
Son, through whom my forces I maintain. 
Thou who on Typhean arms canst heedless gaze ; 
Especial necessity brings me now to thee. 
That thou with all thy power may'st succour me, 

XXXTIII. 

" Thou seest the troubles of the Lusitanians, 
Whom I have now continued to favour long ; 
Because from my friends the Parcas ascertaining. 
That me they shall worship, and love me them among 
And because like my ancient Eomans still maintainin 
The adventurous work, I must confess I long 
To give them all the assistance that our powers 
May enable us to render, whether mine or yours, 

XXXIX. 

" And because of the snares of Bacchus odious 
They have in India been shamefully molested. 
And but from tossing so long upon the billows 
They might well be dead, having so little rested : 
In that same sea, which to them ever boisterous 
Has been as yet — I wish them to be invested, 
"With some repose — as reward and glory sweet 
Por labours, which in memory will be great. 



228 THE LTJSIAD. 



XL, 



" And for tliis purpose, I wish that thou wouldst wound 
The daughters of Nereus down in the deep sea, 
Pired with love for the Lusitanians let them be found, 
"Who so far round have come the new world to see. 
All together on an island of firm ground, 
An island, which shall from the deepest recesses be 
Of ocean raised, and dressed as soon as form'd 
"With Plora's gifts by Zephyr's aid adorned. 

XLI. 

" There with thousand refreshments and good cheer, 
"With wines both odoriferous, and rosy, 
In crystalline palaces of fabric rare. 
Beautiful couches, comfortable, cozy ; 
In short, with thousand delights refined that are, 
The nymphs shall await, and amorously look to sea. 
All by love wounded, and ready to surrender 
Whatever the eyes may covet when they wander : 

XLII. 

" I wish, there may be in the kingdom Neptunine, 

"Where I was born, a progeny that shall excel. 

To set an example to the vile world malign, 

"Which dared against thy power to rebel ; 

That they may know, that neither wall adamantine, 

Nor sad hypocrisy can against it tell ; 

Little can they do on earth, thy darts to turn, 

If thy fire immortal in the waters burn." 

XLIII. 

So Yenus proposed, and the son most willing, 
To obey, now imderstood what was designed ; 
Orders his eburnine bow to be brought, and filling 
"With golden-pointed arrows his quiver behind. 
She with joyful gesture and bosom swelling, 
Heceived him into her car, tow'rds Cyprus inclined, 
Loosened the reins to the birds, whose doleful song 
The Phaetonian death did mourn so long. 



CAISTTO IX. 229 



XLIY. 



But Cupid said, that they should find necessary 

A famous and much celebrated ally, 

"Who though a thousand times she might be contrary. 

As many others on her he could rely : 

The great gigantic goddess, temerary, 

Boastful, speaking truth, yet very apt to lie, 

Who with a hundred eyes can see, and where she flies, 

What she sees, with a thousand open mouths she cries. 

XLY. 

In search of her they went, and sent her on before, 
That she might celebrate with tube so clear 
The navigators' praise who did explore. 
More than any ever, of others praise did hear. 
IS'ow Fame mounts high above the ocean's roar, 
And now penetrates the deep caverns scattered where, 
She spreads the truth, or what is falsehood's nullity ; 
Eor with the G oddess ever goes Credulity. 

XLVI. 

The commendation great, the rumour excellent. 

In the heart of the G-ods, who had been by Bacchus turned 

Against the illustrious people, now unbent 

Their minds, so that some favour was discerned. 

The gentle feminine bosom, whose good intent 

Overturns resolutions made, however firm, 

Now decides that it was ill-will and cruel deed 

To persecute loyalty so intrepid. 

XLVI I. 

Now the wild youth began his arrows to discharge 
One after the other, with them disturbing the sea ; 
Directly into the salt waves restless surge 
Some go, and some first gyrate flightily : 
The Nymphs fall, and burning sighs their bosoms urge, 
By which Fame's power even before first sight we see 
When ardent Love will thus glow for men renowned ; 
Who would not dare^ while love like this is found ! 



230 THE LTJSIAD. 



XL Yin. 



He joined the horns of his ivory moon, 
With force, the wild indomitable boy ; 
Tethys he seeks to wound, more than any one ; 
Because, more than any she was shy and coy. 
JS'ow every arrow in his quiver is gone, 
Nor in the briny fields nymph left one to employ ; 
And if they yet Hve, though wounded, 'tis but to feel, 
Although alive, that they are dying still. , 

XLIX. 

Give place, ye lofty and blue waves- give way ; 
Behold Yenus comes, the medicine to bring. 
Shewing the white swelling sails, above the spray, 
Dancing upon the billows Neptunine : 
That thou reciprocally answer may, 
O ardent Love, to the flame feminine, 
And forced, when honest modesty is made to do 
Whatever Yenus herself may prompt it to. 

L. 

Now the whole beautiful choir is arrayed 
Of the Nereids ; and come together on, 
In choral dance sublime as of old displayed, 
Unto the island which Yenus led them upon : 
There the lovely Groddess to give advice essayed, 
What she did a thousand times, loving any one : 
They who already were overcome by love. 
Unto her counsels most obedient prove. 

LI. 

Cutting through the waves the ships their weary way 
Pursued over the wide sea to the loved home, 
Wanting fresh water, not knowing how they may 
Supply themselves for such a voyage long : 
When together they beheld above the spray. 
The sight of Love's own island, every one : 
Just as through Heaven broke the mother bright 
Of Memnon, bringing mild beauty and delight. 



CANTO IX. 231 



LII. 



Prom a distance they saw the island fresh and fair : 
"Which Venus from the waves for them upheaved, 
(Just as the white sails are inflated by the air) 
Where the brave armada the island first perceived : 
But, that they might not pass that part of it where 
They should take port ; the Groddess had contrived 
The entrance where the vessels sailed to predispose 
By Acidalia, who could do what she chose. 

Liir. 

But firm she made it, and immoveable to the sight, 
Of the sailors it seemed, with them in such request ; 
So Delos stood ; when Latona there brought to light 
Bright Phoebus and the Groddess used to the chase. {I 4) 
Thither then the prow straight through the sea cut right, 
To a deep bay wherein the waves were at peace. 
Curving and quiet, whereof the smooth shining beach 
Cytherea with pink and yellow shells painted rich. 

LIV. 

Three beauteous hills before their eyes appeared, 
Bound, smooth, and gracefully with flowers bespread, 
Adorned with gramineous verdure gently upr eared, 
And in the delightful isle soft valleys made : 
Clear fountains too, coming from these hills were heard, 
"Which whispering limpid among white pebbles strayed : 
Cool and fresh down from the summit's shady source, 
The fugitive sonorous lymph derived its course. 

LY. 

In a pleasant valley, by the hills defended. 
The limpid waters met and joined in one, (m 4() 
Forming a maze, or table, which extended 
As beautiful as fancy e'er gazed upon : 
Groves gracefully o'er parts of the shores impended, 
As if they were going to shave, and looking down. 
Viewing themselves in the crystal bright presented 
Both accurately and naturally painted. 



232 THE LrSIAD, 

A thousand trees, their heads to heaven ascending, 

Pomiferous did scent the genial air : 

The branches of the orange-tree are bending 

"With fruit, that wore the hue of Daphne's hair : 

Falling to the ground, and over it impending, 

The citron with its golden fruit is there : 

The beauteous lemons there, the air perfuming, 

The form of virgin breasts are seen assuming. 

LVII. 

The wild trees, on the gently swelling hills, 
Exalted them into umbrageous manes and crests ; 
The poplars are of Alcides, and the laurels 
Those by the laurel' d god beloved the best : 
Myrtles Cytherea's own, with pines on the fells, 
Of Cybele long time by other love distrest : 
Directly upward points the sharp cupressus, 
Shewing where there is a paradise to bless us. 

LVIII. 

The gifts, which gives Pomona, there fair nature 
Produced of different perfumes and tastes, 
Without any necessity for their culture. 
Indeed without it, nature produced them best : 
The cherries painted purple very pure : 
The mulberry that with love's own name is blest :* 
The apple, which from native Persia came. 
In other lands turned better and not the same. 

LIX. 

The pomegranate bursts rubicund, displaying 
The hue with which thou ruby art of value mean, 
Between the arms of the elm appears straying 
The merry vine with some red clusters, and some green. 
And you, pyramidal pears ; if ye would stay in 
Tour leafy arbour, and still there be seen. 
Deliver yourselves to the damage of the beaks, 
"Which in you the inimical swallow makes. 

* Pyramus and Thisbe, see Ov. Met. 



CANTO IX. 233 



LX. 



Then the tapestry beautifully soft and fine, 
AVherewith is broadly covered the rustic land, 
Makes even that of Achemenia look mean, 
And in the shady vale looks truly grand. 
There the Cephisian flower doth the head incline, 
xllmost meeting its image on the lucid strand ; 
And there blooms lost Adonis' purple flower, 
For whom the Goddess sighs in Paphian bower. 

LXI. 

It had been rather difiicult to say, 

Seeing in the sky, and on earth hues quite the same, 

Whether Aurora gave the flowers their coloiu's gay, 

Or those of the flowers Aurora had from them. 

Zephyr and Elora, were busy painting away 

The violets the colour of the lover's flame : 

The lily, hyacinth ; the fresh rose fair. 

Such as shines in the damsel's cheek, was blooming there. 

LXII. 

The pure white lily, at early morn bedewed 
With shining tears, and the marjoram sweet : 
Those characters the hyacinthine flowers showed, 
In which the son of Latona's grief was writ :* 
'Twas plain in the apples and flowers that lowly grew 
For what Chloris with Pomona did compete. 
For if the birds in air, sing while on the wing, 
Happy animals on earth, the earth are peopling. 

LXIII. 

Along the water sings the sno\\y swan. 
To it responds sweet Philomel from the bough : . 
The shadow of his horns scares not Actason 
In the crystalline and beautiful sheet below : 
Here the swift leveret quits the couch she lay on 
In the thick bush, or tmiid gazelle feeds slow ; 
There in their beaks the little sparrows bear 
The food for the dear young ones through the air. 

* Ipse suos gemitus foliis inscribit ; et Ai, Ai, 
Flos habet inscniotum ; funestaque littera ducta est. — Ovid. Met, 



^34 THE LrSIAB. 

LXIV. 

Into sucli charming fresliness then had landed 
Already from the ships, the second Argonauts, 
Where through the open forest careless wandered, 
The Groddesses not fearing to be caught ; 
Some tinkled soft guitars, some boldly fingered 
Harps, while some with soft flutes sweet music wrought ; 
Others with golden bows pretended to hunt 
The animals, they did not follow nor want. 

LXV. 

Thus counselled the able mistress love expert in. 
That they should scatter themselves about the fields ; 
That the bold Barons, seeing the prize uncertain. 
They should thus be desired, and not unsought could yield. 
Some, in the beauteous form unveiled by curtain 
"Were con&dbig ; in a fine person unconcealed. 
Placing the transcendant beauty artfully where. 
Naked they could bathe in pure water and open air. 

LXYI. 

But of the brave youths, who on that enchanting shore 
First set foot, being for the land all eagerness ; 
There is not one of them, than the others more 
Desirous to discover some wild chase : 
Though without snare or net, they must explore, 
And have a run in these glades of loveliness, 
So sweet and mild, domestic, and benign, 
So wounded were they already by Erycine. 

LXYII. 

Some, who put faith in guns, and dogs of chase, 
To kill or wound or take the bounding deer. 
Into the dark copses, and forest hied apace, 
Kesolutely to seek sport therein and good cheer : 
Others in shades, which from the glowing rays 
Defended the rich verdure, walked near 
The margin of the brook, which smoothly o'er 
White rounded pebbles, babbled to the shore. 



CANTO IX. 



LXYIII. 



235 



When they "began to discover suddenly 
Amongst green branches various colours gay, 
Colours, which as distinguished by the eye, 
"Were neither of roses, nor flowers that fade away ; 
But of fine wool, and silks of different dye, 
Which more the powers of love serve to array, 
With which the human roses are invested, 
By art, more beauteous, less to be resisted. 

LXIX. 

Vellosa raises a shout in a great fright : 

" Grentlemen, strange game," (he said) " certainly this is 

If still endures the ancient Grentoo rite, 

This forest sacred still must be to Goddesses : 

But we discover, what the human insight 

Has never sought : most manifest it is. 

That great indeed are the things, and excellent. 

Which the world conceals from men incompetent. 

LXX. 

" Let us follow these Goddesses, and let us see, 
If mere fantasies they are, or flesh and blood." 
This said, more swiftly than fallow deer they flee. 
Along river bank, fair meadow, and deep wood. 
The flying nymphs would hide behind each tree ; 
But making more show, than as they really would. 
Slowly — between silent laughter, and faint scream; 
They allow the harriers to overtake the game. 

LXXI. 

The golden locks of one the light wind bears 
Away as she flies ; of another the flowing folds : 
Desire is kindled, which fattens as it fares 
On the fair white skin it suddenly beholds ; 
One industriously falls, and rising, no fears 
Shews, nor seems indignant at a chase so bold. 
That stumbling upon her who fell before, 
Comes he who had followed from the sandy shore. 



236 THE LUSIAD. 

LXXII. 

Others, by other parts seek to light upon 
The naked Groddesses, who bathing went, 
They began suddenly to set up a moan, 
As if such daring assault they could not prevent. 
Some, pretending to think it was less wrong 
To disregard shame than force, recklessly went 
Naked into the woods, giving to the eyes 
What to the covetous hands, the flyer denies. 

LXXIII. 

Another, in running away with greater haste 

From the shame that befel the G-oddess of the chase, 

Hides her body in the stream : another pressed 

To take her vestments, thrown down in another place. 

Such were caught by the youths, who attacked in haste, 

Dressed and shod as they were, (for in the least 

Delay to undress, was fear, of being too late) 

To put put in the water, the fire that burnt innate. 

LXXIT. 

Like unto sportsman's dog, sagacious, ready, 
Accustomed to seize in the water the wounded bird. 
Seeing at the cheek the iron tube, held steady 
Tow'rds the heron or duck, with aim that seldom err'd ; 
Not doubtful of the prey with eager speed, he 
Leaps into the water before the sound is heard. 
Swims forward and yelps : so the youth to come at her 
Who was not the sister of Phoebus, takes the water. 

LXXV. 

Leonardo, a soldier well disposed and just. 

Wise, circumspect, a cavalier, and in love, 

To whom love gave not only one disgust, 

But ever alike unkind to him did prove ; 

And who now held firmly to the belief that he must 

Be ever unfortunate in affairs of love ; 

But yet he did not every hope relinquish 

That his fate might change, such being his earnest wish : 



CAis-TO IX. 237 



LXXYI. 



It was his fortune liere, to be running after 

Ephyra, example of beauty dazzling clear, 

"Who much more than the others, what was left her 

By nature to give, was resolved to part with dear. 

]N"ow the tired youth whilst running thus addrest her 

" O loveliness, unworthy of hate or fear, 

Since of this life I yield to thee the whole. 

Await a body, from which thou hast ta'en the soul. 

LXXVII. 

" AH the others tire of running, Nymph most pure ! 

Surrend'ring at discretion to the enemy. 

Thou me alone flyest into the obscure ; 

Who told thee that 'twas I who followed thee ? 

If all have told thee of that fate so sure. 

That in all other lands has accompanied me. 

Believe it not ; for I, when I so believed, 

A thousand times an hour myself deceived. 

LXXYIII. 

" Thou tirest not ; me thou tirest : and I say it, 
My me ; because run I cannot, for thy sake ; 
My lot is such, that wert thou even to wait. 
It would decide, that thee I could not overtake, — - 
Stop ; I wish to see, if thou wilt permit. 
What subtile mode it seeks for thee to escape. 
And thou shalt note in fortune serving me so, 
' Tra la spiga e la man qual muro e messo.'* 

LXXIX. 

" fly me not ! so may fleet time in vain 

From thy young loveliness be seen to fly ! 

Thus it is for thee but thy light step to restrain ; 

And thou canst conquer fortune's apathy. 

What emperor, or army could hope to gain 

Against that fated evil destiny 

That follows me, my every wish denying, 

That which thou couldst achieve by ceasing flying ? 

* So in the original. 



238 THE LUSIAD. 

LXXX. 

" Dost tlaou not sympathise in my distress ? 
To weakness should the strongest still give aid. 
Canst thon take from me a heart I did once possess ? 
Cast it loose, and run less heavily arrayed. 
Take not away a soul miserable like this, 
Tied in these shining fillets of golden braid. 
Or is it that when thus borne in silken tress, 
Its destiny is chang'd and weight is less ? 

LXXXT. 

" In this hope I still continue to pursue thee, 
That either thou wilt not carry it very far, 
Or in virtue of thy beauty thrilling through me 
Thou wilt change my destiny and evil star : 
And if thou changest it, and no longer do flee ; 
Ajid love might thee too wound, oh ! beauteous fair ! 
And thou shalt me await, and love thee stop : 
Nothing remains for me to wish or hope." 

LXXXII, 

At length the lovely Nymph fled not so fast 
To make herself so dear to the swain pursuing, 
As if while running, the enamoured strain at last 
She listened to, the headlong career undoing : 
A look now holy and serene she cast 
On her pursuer, for so much ardent wooing ; 
Then all dissolved in smiles, no more she strove, 
But sunk before the conqueror's perfect love. 

LXXXIII, 

Oh ! what famishing kisses on the daisies ! 
And what a delicate chorus sounded there ! 
What soft allurements ; and what angry faces 
Dissolved by these into the merry air ! 
"What was done at morn, at noontide, in all places, 
Which Venus inflamed with pleasures every where, 
'Twere better to experience than criticize ; 
But let him judge whom no experience tries. 



CANTO IX. 239 



LXXXIT. 



To this rule at length the beauteous Nymphs conformed, 

Who with the navigators enamour' d rove, 

Crowning them with chaplets, and mth garlands formed 

Of laurels, with gold and flowrets interwove : 

Their fair white hands they gave them and performed 

The formal words of espousal with true love ; 

Promising them eternal company 

In life and death, honour and felicity. 

LXXXY. 

One above the others, to whom lowly bowed 
The whole choir of Nymphs, which humbly did obey. 
Styled daughter of Coelo and Yesta, as she glowed 
In beauteous gesture, lovelier even than they ; 
Filling earth and sea with admiration loud : 
Th' illustrious Captain, worthy of such a day, 
With honest pomp and dignity received, 
A lady grand by glorious deeds achieved ; 

LXXXVI. 

Who, after having declared to him her birth. 
With eloquence graceful, exordium ornate. 
Giving him to understand she had come to earth 
By the high influence of immoveable fate ; 
To disclose to him the sphere's substantial worth, 
Its shores immense and seas not navigate : 
The secrets of high ancient prophecy. 
Which his brave nation alone deserved to see, 

LXXXTII. 

Taking him by the hand, she Grama leads and guides 
To a mountain summit, lofty and divine, 
Whereon they perceive a rich edifice whose sides 
Of crystal seemed, and of gold most pure and fine. 
Here greater part of the day most smoothly glides 
In sportive joys, love ever doth incline : 
She in the palace reciprocates amours. 
The others down in the shades among the flowers. 



240 THE LrSIAD. 



LXXXYIII. 



Thus did the gay and numerous company, 
Almost the whole day amorously employ 
In soft repose of soul, with unknown glee 
Compensating toilsome hardships' long annoy : 
Because for deeds of renown and bravery, 
And high emprize the world accords such joy, 
Gruarding the premium for the great alone,— 
Grreat fame and a sounding name by valour won. 

LXXXIX. 

The beauteous Nymphs of Ocean deemed so fair, 
Tethys, and the angelic island of delights. 
Are nothing but the foretaste of honours rare 
That life exalt, and for which the hero fights : 
The well deserved pre-eminence some bear. 
The triumphs, the crowned front, and glorious sights 
Of palm and laurel, the rapture and the wonder. 
These are the joys of Venus' island yonder, (m* 4) " 

xc. 

The immortalities which the ancients feigned. 
And by the illustrious esteemed so much. 
There in starry Olympus, to which they attained 
Upon the wings of fame ; renowned for such 
Deeds of great valour for some mighty end, 
By toils immense, which they could only reach 
By the path of virtue — steep, rugged to pass through, 
But charming to the retrospective view ; 

xci. 

"Were only premiums which the world awarded 
!Por deeds immortal, sovereign benefits. 
To heroes, who were for skill and art regarded 
Divine, though human by their superior wits. 
Jupiter, Mercury, Mars, who much in war did, 
^neas, Quirinus, the Thebans, mortal each, 
Ceres, Pallas, Juno, Dian, and the rest, 
"Were only but of human flesh the best. 



ca:n^to IX. 241 



XCII. 



But Fame the trumpet blew of deeds astounding, 
Gave names forth to the world so very strange, 
Of gods and demi-gods immortal, sounding 
Grrandly heroic, greater by each change. 
Beware ! oh ye, who Fame's proud name confounding, 
Ye who in the famous world with these would range, 
Awaken from the dream of idle sloth. 
Which makes the freest mind of little worth. 

XCIII. 

And place on covetousness a heavy rein, 
On ambition likewise which unworthily 
A thousand times ye feel, and the hateful vein 
Cursed vice of tyranny indulging hurtfully ; 
For these vain honours, and the sordid gain 
Of purest gold, true valour will not buy : 
Better it is to deserve them and not have, 
Than to possess them and yet not deserve. 

xciv. 

Or in peace, administer just equal laws, 

Grive not to the great what to the small pertains. 

Or in war, support in shining arms the cause 

Of truth against the inimical Saracens : 

Try to make the kingdom more powerful than it was. 

Until, when less to none, and more to all remains. 

Ye shall have wealth deserved, by which the owner thrives. 

With those honours that embellish human lives. 

xcv. 

And make the king, whom ye all love, renowned, 
]^ow with judicious counsels weighed with care, 
ISTow by his arms invincible still found. 
Immortal as your forefathers ever were : 
Impossibilities be still disowned ; 
Whoever will, always can — and still will dare. 
So shall ye amongst heroes brightly shine, 
And be received within this isle divine. 

M 



CANTO X. 



Btjt now tlie shining lover of Larissea 

Inclined his horses to their place of rest, 

There by the grand lake around Temistitea,* 

In the far confines of the distant West ; 

Sol's ardent heat before Zephyr then gave way a — 

Little ; that with the pufi" upon the pond's smooth breast 

Curled the serene water, and the heads upraised, 

Of the lilies and jasmines by the heat abased. 

II. 

When the beauteous nymphs, with lovers hand in hand, 
l^ow complacently walked in sweet content, 
Ascending to the brilliant palace by command. 
Where it shone adorned with bright metals lucient ; 
There the Queen had tables on which, from sea and land 
The gifts were abundant, cookery excellent ; 
Expressly set out ; now the love chase was o'er, 
Exhausted human nature to restore. 

III. 

There in rich chairs, curiously crystalline 
They sat down, two and two, lover and dame : 
In others of gold, at the head of the feast recline, 
The beautiful goddess and Grama of famous name. 
Of banquets delicious, savoury, divine, 
Never attained by the old Egyptian fame, 
They pile the plates, of gold most richly wrought, 
Erom far beyond the Atlautic treasury brought. 

* Ancient name of the city of Mexico. 



ca:etto X. 243 



IT. 



The odoriferous wines, upon tlie board, 

Not only were, the Italian Falernal, 

But ambrosial, so esteemed by Heaven's dread lord, 

With all his jovial company eternal. 

In the cups of adamant no file had scored, 

Crisp froth arose, whose charming effect internal 

Imparted to the heart a sudden joy. 

Leaping with cold water mixed and cooled thereby. 

Y. 

A thousand merry stories circled round, 

Soft laughter, reasonable converse which delights, 

The more, when between the courses such is found, 

To awaken up the happy appetites : 

Musical instruments also gave sweet sound, 

Such as had afforded even to naked sprites 

In deepest hell, repose from eternal pain. 

All led by an angelic Syren's vocal strain. 

VI. 

The beautiful njnnph sang, and in accents high, 
Tet sweetly resounding through the lofty hall. 
With the instruments in perfect harmony ; 
And smoothly to one true time conforming all : 
A sudden silence bridled the wind's low sigh, 
And made the murmuring waters softly fall 
In whispers, and all animals did keep 
Within their earthly dwellings in deeper sleep. 

YII. 

With the sweet voice to heaven thus ascend 

The names of heroes, to this world still unknown, 

Whose grand ideas Proteus did comprehend 

In a pellucid globe rotund, where they were shown ; 

Which Jupiter to him in a dream did send 

A gift, and afterwards in the dark deep to one 

Prophesying he told it ; and, from memory, 

The nymph thus revealed the lucid history. 



244! THE LTJSIAD. 

Yin. 

The subject is of tlie buskin, and not of the sock, 
Which, the nymph collected in the deep immense, 
Such as king Jopas knew not, nor Demodoc, 
Nor in Carthage, nor with Phseacians lost to sense, 
Here, O my Calliope, I thee invoke. 
In this last labour ; that, in recompense, 
Thou wilt but return to me, for what I write, 
Taste to write still, for I lose power to indite. 

IX. 

I descend the vale of years, for summer now 

To me is nearly past, and autumn come :* 

Stern fortune makes my genius cold and slow, 

I boast of it no more, nor prize my plume : 

Disgusted, downward lower still I go 

To the dark river of oblivion, and the tomb : 

But, grant me life, first to complete, great Queen, the song 

Thy Muses taught, Lusian glories to prolong ! 

X. 

The beautiful goddess sung, that there should come 
From the Tagus, by the sea, Gama first had tried. 
Armadas, which all the coasts should overcome, 
Wherever the Indian Ocean's waters sighed : 
And that the Grentoo kings, who would not succumb 
Their necks to the yoke, and thereunto be tied ; 
Anger, and a brave strong arm should be made to feel. 
Until they submitted, to it or to the steel. 

XI. 

She sang of one, who on the coast of Malabar 
Holds highest sacerdotal dignity, (n 4i) 
Who, only not to break with our Barons rare, 
The pledges he had given them of amity. 
Would sufier his cities and towns to be laid bare 
With fire and sword in rage and cruelty ; 
AU by the powerful Samorim laid waste. 
So much shall he the new come people detest. 

* It is not certain when Camoens wrote this. It seems however not 
long- to precede the publication of his poem, at which time he was in 
his fifty -fifth year. 



CANTO X. 245 



XII. 



And she sung, how there they should at length embark 

In Belem, the remedy against this malice, 

Without knowing who the sea would thus set to work 

The great Pacheco, Lusitanian Achilles : 

Sensible of more weight, when entering the bark 

The crooked timbers, and the fervid billows, 

Those deeper in water shall sink ; and higher bound 

Shall ocean waves, when they the deep ship surround. 

XIII. 

But now arrived at the Oriental shores, 
And landed in support of the King of Cochim ; 
Grentoo allies who -^dth a few troops more 
In the crooked arms of the salt water stream : 
Shall destroy the infernal JS'aires posted before 
The Cambalao pass, turning to cold terror grim 
The glowing ardour of the mighty East, 
To see so much effected by the least. 

XIY. 

The Samorim shall call in forces new : 
There the kings shall come of Bipur and of Tanor, 
Erom the mountains of Norsinga, who to be true 
Eaithfiil adherence shall promise evermore : 
At length he shall order all the Naires up, who 
Inhabit between Calecut and Cananor, 
Of both th' inimical creeds to unite in war. 
By land Gentoos, and by the sea the Moor. 

XV. 

And great Pacheco all these once more defeating 
By land and sea, by victory made more bold, 
Vast multitudes, he shall continue beating, 
Untn aU Malabar with wonder shaU. behold : 
Once more the Grentoo attacks ^vith unabating 
Ardour, but combat on combat will have told, 
Only against his people, seeking relief 
Prom G-ods that are vain, immoveable, and deaf. 



246 THE LUSIAD. 



XVI. 



Now he will have to defend not only passes, 
But houses, temples, towns, consigned to flames : 
Furious with rage, seeing that nought harasses 
Those who his cities destroy, whom no one tames ; 
Eeckless of life, he will send his people in masses 
To attack Pacheco, who has wings ; madly aims 
His assaults on two passes at once; so Pacheco flies 
Prom one to the other, all the enemy destroys. 

XVII. 

Then shall the Samorim go forth, with his own eye 
To see the battle, and his army animate : 
But a shot, which with a hissing sound shall fly. 
Shall hurl him from his sublime and lofty seat. 
Nor shall he find any good remedy, whereby 
His forces may be made Pacheco to defeat ; 
By treacheries shall he try the same end to gain. 
But always (such shall be Heaven's will) in vain. 

XVIII. 

She sung, a seventh time he will return, 
To battle with the unconquered Lusitanian, 
Whom neither toils shall oppress, nor labours turn 
Aside ; still his ground most firmly maintaining : 
Although the foe shall endeavour with rafts to burn 
His ships by boarding, yet no advantage gaining 
In endeavours to set his carvels in a blaze ; 
Nor by bold attacks in so many other ways. 

XIX. 

Mountains of fire on the waters he will bring, 
To burn what armada the Lusians may have : 
But military art and skill will teach the King, 
How vain are all such bravadoes against the brave. 
No hero celebrated in the martial ring. 
To whom the wings of fame elevation gave, 
Hose so high as this, who will bear the palm alone, 
And pardon me illustrious Greece, or Kome. 



CANTO X. 247 



XX. 



Por so many battles courageously sustained, 
With very little more than a hundred soldiers, 
By so many manoeuyres, and such art maintained, 
Against such dogs, no uuTvarlike marauders, 
Must seem either fabulous dreams of battles gained, 
Or that all the celestial choir were beholders, 
Descended when invoked, that they might impart 
Enterprise, fortitude, stratagem and heart. 

XXI. 

The warrior, who on the plains Marathonian, 

The power of Darius destroyed, and ended, 

Nor he who with four-thousand Lacedemonians, 

The pass of the Thermopylae defended ; 

Nor young Horatius Cocles the Ausonian, (p 4) 

TVTio 'gainst the whole of the Tuscan power contended 

For the bridge ; nor yet Eabius against Hannibal ; 

Shewed in war such skill and valour as Pacheco shall. 

XXII. 

But here the nymph her lofty song declining, 

Becoming hoarse, and melancholy withal, 

With lower voice, and in tears, continued singing,' 

The grand exploits so ill-requited all. 

"O Belisarius," she said, "whose name is ringing 

Still in the Muses' lofty choir, and ever shall, 

If in thyself thou sawest brave Mars abused, 

Be now consoled, seeing how another is used! 

XXIII. 

" Here is a match, as well in mighty deeds 

As in recompense unjust, to both how hard ! 

In thee, and in him, we shall see souls of lofty meed, 

Keduced to low estate obsciu'e, of no regard : 

In alms-houses expiring, upon hardest beds, 

Those, who to the King and the faith were walls to guard ! 

This do those Kings .whose will alone commands, 

More than what justice, and the truth demands. 



248 THE LrsiAD. 

XXIY. 

" This do those" Kings, when they are intoxicated 
In that apparent calm, which despots pleases. 
They give the premiums by Ajax elaborated 
To the empty tongue of fraudulent Ulysses : 
But I avenge, the good misappropriated 
Ey him who only sweetest slumber wishes, 
If not bes'towed on cavaliers of merit, 
Greedy flatterers alone shall often share it. 

XXT. 

" But thou, to whom shall remain, no reward receiving, 

Such a subject, O King, unjust in this alone ! 

If not for thee honoured estate to give him. 

Is it his to make a rich kingdom all thine own ? 

As long as Apollo's rays with light relieving 

The world shall surround, the task be mine so long, 

To class that hero among th' illustrious great, 

And thee to denounce as avaricious ingrate. 

XXYI. 

" But see another comes," she sung : " and bearing 
The name of Boyalty, and who with him brings 
The son, who at sea such glorious trophies sharing. 
As any ancient Eoman on victory's wings : 
Both shall vdth brave arm, and courageous daring 
^Fertile Quiloa punish, and change her kings, 
Giving her a monarch loyal and humane, 
In place of the perfidious tyrant slain. 

XXYII. 

" They shall also lay low Mombasa, so arrayed 
In sumptuous houses and great edifices, 
"With fire and sword these then shall be repaid 
For their past treacheries and false devices ; 
After, on coast of India, finding displayed 
Floating enemies, with hostile artifices 
Against the Lusians ; with oars and sails outspread, 
The youth Lorenzo shall teach them war indeed. 



CAFTO X. 249 

xxYiir. 

" The great vessels of the powerful Samorim, 
"Which cover the whole sea, he shall rend in pieces, 
"With the iron ball from the copper's lightning gleam, 
In thunder the rudder, masts, sails, or hull defaces, 
Then, with grappling irons daringly leaping in : 
To the flagship of the enemy, there displaces 
With sword and lance, hand to hand, four-hundred Moors, 
All sent together to the Stygian shores, 

XXIX. 

" But Grod's hidden providence, known alone 

To Himself, for His wise purposes intended, 

Shall place him, where no strength or prudence of his own 

Shall avail, his life to save, doomed to be ended. 

In Chaul, where under fire and blood, shall ocean groan, 

And boil beneath two powerful armadas blended, 

Of Egypt and Cambaya, in desperate strife; 

righting while able, shall the hero lose his life, 

XXX. 

" There shall the power of many enemies, 

Which the great enterprise with force shall rend. 

The winds shall fail them, and the seas and skies 

Shall be tempestuous, with all shall they contend. 

Here let all ancient warriors arise, 

The noble ardour to witness and comprehend : 

Another Scseva to see, who in pieces hewed, 

Shall neither know how to surrender, nor be subdued. 

XXXI. 

" One thigh is gone, which being carried away 
By a blind ball recoiling from the slain. 
With his arms still he shall continue the fray, 
Ajid wdth his great heart, which shall to him remain, 
Until another shot shall rend the clay, 
Which the soul within the body would retain : 
It shall bound, flying from its prison free, 
Triumphantly to highest victory. 

M 2 



250 THE LrsiAD. 

XXXII. 

" Go, soul, in peace, from war's discordant sound, 
Where thou shalt worthy be held of peace serene ! 
The body, though in pieces it be found, 
He who begot it, for this shall vengeance ordain : 
While I venture the dread torments to resound, 
Which shall consign to hard and endless pain, 
Of artillery, basilisks, and batteries. 
The Mamelukes and cruel Cambayese. 

XXXIII. 

" See the father come, with soul stupendous bringing 
Avenging fury, and with sorrow blind he flies, 
Paternal love his generous bosom wringing, 
Pire fills the heart, while water fills the eyes : 
In noble anger, confidently designing, 
That up to their knees the blood of his enemies 
Shall reach in their ships, as India yet shall feel. 
Granges shall hear, — and long shall weep, the Nile. 

XXXIV. 

" Just as the furious bull, whom they assail 

And tempt to the cruel conflict, his horns thrusts 

Into the trunk of an oak, or beech-tree tall, 

And wounds the air, displaying the strength he trusts 

So into the very bay of Cambaya shall 

Erancis rush furiously, and into the dust 

Throw the city of Cabul, and there shall fall. 

Every human being found within its wall. 

XXXY. 

" Then again, wildly entering the bay 

Of Dio, for sieges and battles famed before. 

He shall scatter and drive like chaff* the grand array 

Of Caleciit's fleet, whose strength lies in the oar — 

That of Melique Taz, shall dearly pay. 

By thy balls which thou, Yulcan, there shall pour, 

Sending many by the cold and dismal road, 

To the humid element's secret deep abode. 



CA^fTO X. 



XXX YI. 



251 



^' But they shall board that of Mir-Hocem, and on him 
Shall the dread conqueror's vengeance tell the most, 
Shall see arms and legs that in the sea shall swim, 
Without the bodies of those by whom they are lost : 
Flashes of fire flying all about shall seem, 
The blindfold fury of the conquering host : 
All that can be by eye, or ear, made out, 
Is smoke, fire, flames, and, to " Allah" the loud shout. 

XXXTII, 

** But alas ! that of this prosperous victory, 
With which he should to Tagus' shore return, 
A sad event should almost rob him of his glory, 
And fame, as I now foresee, and deeply mourn ! 
The Cape of Torments, which preserves his memory 
With his bones, will not be slack at such a turn, 
As from this world, that spirit to take away ; 
Which all India and Egypt, shall in vain assay. 

XXXVIII. 

" There savage Cafires shall be able to do 

What dexterous enemies could not efi*ect. 

Either with cannon-ball, or bended bow. 

With only some clumsy clubs, of burnt stick. 

The judgments of God are hidden from men below ! 

Yain men ! in ignorance when they receive a check ; 

CaU it evil fate, or destiny obscure ! 

When only Grod's gracious providence most pure. 

XXXIX, 

" But oh, what shining light breaks in," she said, 
The song of the nymph more lofty then arose, 
*' There the sea of Melinda shall with blood be red. 
Of the cities of Lamo, Oja, Brava ; — woes 
Whereby Cunha's name shall be remembered, 
In all the distant seas that do enclose 
The islands and shores of San Lorenzo,* by name ; 
And throughout the south shall perpetuate his fame. 

* The Island of Madag-ascar no-\7. 



232 THE LrSIAD. 

XL. 

" That blaze of liglit is from flame, and glittering arms, 

"Wlierewith Albuquerque tbe Persians shall tame, 

Of Ormuz for their zeal which only warms, 

Against the honoured yoke and milder name : 

There shall the hurtling arrows pierce the arms 

That bent the bow, turning in air to whence they came, 

Against those who pulled the string ; for God doth much 

Por those who spread the faith of our holy church, (p 4) 

XLI. 

" Mountains of rock-salt there will not defend 
The bodies from corruption that shall be slain. 
In combat — along the shores and seas that extend, 
From Grerum, Muscate, and Calayate's plain : 
Until by force of arms they are made to bend 
Their necks so low, that they shaR feel the chain 
Binding the inimical kingdom, so that they, 
In pearls of Barem a tribute rich shall pay. 

XLII. 

" What glorious palms I see shall be woven there, 
With brightest victory to adorn his brow ; 
When heedless of danger, unconscious of fear. 
He shall take the most illustrious Isle of Groa ! (q 4) 
Afterwards obliged to move rapidly elsewhere, 
He shall quit it, and await a convenient hour. 
To return and take it again ; when force and art 
Shall conquer fortune, and e'en of Mars get the start. 

XLIII. 

" See him now upon her turn and all assailing 
Eire, darts, and bullets, upon the walls he pours — 
With sword in hand, his way cutting, and prevailing 
Against the dense squadrons of Glentoos and Moors : 
There eager for fame, the soldiers bravely scaling ; 
Than famished lions, or wild bulls raging more, 
On that day, which ever celebrated shall shine, 
'Fox the holy Egyptian Saint Catharine. 



CANTO X. 253 



XLIT. 



" Nor more canst thou from these dread horrors fly, 
Howeyer rich, and whatever seas surround 
Thee there in Aurora's lap, and under her eye, 
Opulent Malacca, however much renowned ! (r 4) 
The poisonous arrows, that about thee fly. 
The crisses, I see thee armed with around, 
Amorous Malays, and valiant Javanese, 
Shall all be compelled to obey the Portuguese." 

XLT. 

More stanzas had the lovely syren sung 

In ]3raise of the illustrious Albuquerque, 

Eut a wild ire, about her bosom clung. 

Condemning him for a single evil work. 

Though his fame should be the theme of every tongue, 

The great Captain, who with battles his name would mark, 

Should rather befriend his poor companions in arms, 

Than be their rigorous judge to do them harm, (s 4) 

XL VI. 

But in times of hunger, hardships of great roughness, 

Diseases, deadly shafts, and ardent thunders. 

Climate, and station, oft causing great distress 

To the soldiers, who must all be patient under. 

It seems most savage brutality, and no less. 

In breasts inhuman, dead to all feeling tender, 

Capital pimishment to inflict on them, 

"Whom humanity frail, and love, do not condemn. 

XLYII. 

Not for the crime abominable of incest, 
Nor violent stupration of virgin pure. 
Nor adultery dishonourable at least ; 
But with a vile slave, lascivious, and obscure : 
If the heart, be it either jealous or modest, 
Or accustomed to cruelty, can this endure, 
Prom such ire insane to his own cannot refrain ; 
On his fair fame, he casts a dark and ugly stain. 



254 THE LrSIAD. 

XLYIII. 

Alexander saw Apelles enamoured gaze 

On his Campaspe, and gave her to the man in love, 

Although no soldier living laborious days, 

Nor in 'hard siege, privations doomed to prove. 

Cyrus perceived how against the resistless blaze 

Of Panthea's charms Araspas vainly strove, 

A captive placed in his charge, respecting whom 

He had sworn no passion should him overcome, (t 4) 

XLIX. 

But the great Persian seeing all powerful love 
Had vanquished him ; and that he had no defence, 
Pardoned him willingly, and did even prove 
His friend, rewarding him with great recompense. 
By force against which Judith vainly strove,* 
Iron-armed Baldwin wa^ her spouse on this pretence ; 
Her father, nobly mindful of passion's dangers. 
Deciding that he should live and people Planders.f {u 4) 

L. 

But the Nymph continuing her discursive strain. 

Of Soares sung, " who on high should the banners wave ; 

And terror strike across the sandy plain 

Which red Arabia's saline waters lave ; 

Make abominable Medina fear him then, (V H) 

Mecca, Gidah, to farthest Abyssinian cave : 

Barbora should tremble, and with reason fear 

The woes their emporium Zeila yet must bear. 

LI. 

" The noble island besides of Taprobane, 

Already so famous by its ancient name. 

However proud at this time and sovereign 

By its pungent odoriferous bark ; the same 

Shall tribute pay to the banner Lusitane, 

When conquering they shall raise the glorious claim ; 

And also raise on high in Colombo, 

The dreaded towers her people well shall know. 

* Judith, daughter of Charles the Bald, and widow of Ethel wolfe, 
King: of Eng-land. 

t Baldwin, surnamed Iron-arm, Grand Forester of Flanders. 



CANTO X. 255 

LII. 

" Siqueira, too, the Erythrean wave 
Dividing, shall open out a new highway 
Tor thee, great Empire, sapient as brave, 
"Where Sheba's splendour did her queen array, (w 4) 
Magna' s abundant fountains shalt thou have, 
And Arquico the only port that near them lay. 
And they shall discover isles still more remote, 
Where new miracles for the world shall be wrought. 

LIII. 

" Menezes next shall come, whose arm of steel 
In Africa more than here shall yet give trouble ; 
Proud Ormuz he shall chastise, and make her feel 
Her error, by making her pay a tribute double. 
Thou also. Grama, in return for thy zeal 
Through such long banishment, they shall ennoble 
"With the title of Count, and thou shalt yet rule over 
The spacious territory thou shalt discover. 

LIT. 

" But that fatal necessity which none 
Of the human generation ever spares. 
When with royal dignity thou shalt have shone, 
Shall withdraw thee from the world and all its cares, 
Another Menezes, afterwards better known {x 4) 
For his exceeding prudence than for years 
Shall govern ; and immortalise the name so well, 
That history ever after his fame shall tell, 

LV, 

" He shall not only conquer Malabar, 

Destroying both Panane and Coulete, 

Pacing the bomb-shells, which on whoever dare 

Engage them, avenge themselves by fragments weighty ; 

But with virtues, certainly extremely rare. 

He shall triumph o'er all enemies completely : 

Over covetousness, over incontinence ; 

At his young age the highest excellence. 



250 THE LUSIAD. 



LVI. 

" But after tlie stars shall also him recall, 
Thou shalt succeed, O Mascarenhas brave ! (y 4) 
And if deprived of thy conunand by base cabal, 
I promise that thou eternal fame shalt have. 
That even thine enemies thy valour shall 
Loudly confess, and that the Fates unto thee gave 
The power, more with laurels to be crowned 
Than by fortune just to be accompanied or owned. 

LYII. 

'' In the kingdom of Bintao, which so many woes 
Shall to Malacca in time to come have wrought, 
The wrongs of a thousand years upon their foes. 
Thou shalt avenge in one day gloriously fought. 
With hard toils shalt thou inhuman dangers oppose. 
Iron stakes and spikes into narrow passes brought. 
Palisades, lances, arrows shot from bastion-wall, 
Thou shalt break through and overcome them all. 

LVIII. 

" But in India, sordid avarice alone, 

Yf hich so plainly and directly sets its face 

Against Grod and justice, when to thee made known, 

Will but disgust thee, who wilt none disgrace. 

Whoever does vile injury to his own, 

With the forces and power belonging to his plac^,-~ 

Overcomes nothing ; victory alone is won 

Where justice naked and complete is done, 

LIX. 

" But withal, that Sampaio, I will not deny, 

Shall be in his efforts illustrious and renowned, 

Shooting like a dread thunderbolt across the sky, 

Who by sea shall thousands of enemies confound, 

In Bacanor he cruelly will try 

The Malabarese to terrify and astound ; 

And defeating afterwards Cutiale with all 

His armada, which in Sampaio's hands shall fall. 



CAKTO X. 257 

LX. 

" And not tlie less to Dio sliall tlie fierce fleet, 
Which Chaul shall also fear as bold and grand, 
Do by its sole appearance, when these are beat 
By Hector da Sylveira, vanquished out of hand : 
The Portuguese Hector who must yet prove so great, 
Along the Cambayan coast, where he shall plan 
As much mischief to the Gluzerats he shall seek, 
As the Trojan formerly wrought unto the Grreek. 

LXI. 

" Then the fierce Sampayo shall be succeeded by 

Cunha,* who the helm long time shall wisely guide, 

The lofty towers of Chale he shall raise on high. 

While famous Dio shall tremble when by him tried. 

Strong Baraim shall not its artillery deny, 

But not without bloodshed ; Melic with humbled pride 

Shall see her superb palisades down torn. 

And not less because the work of the sword, shall mourn. 

LXII. 

" Noronha approaches next ; and at once depart 
The fierce Bumeiros,t before Dio besieged in vain ; 
Dio, which the bravery and warlike art 
Of Antonio da Sylveira shall long sustain. 
Death on Noronha shall play his usual part, 
When one of thy line, Gama ! shall attain 
To Imperial rule, whose zeal and bravery 
Into yellow colour shall frighten the Eed Sea. 

LXIII. 

" From thy Stephen's hands to take the reins shall come 
One, who before shall have been celebrated 
In the Brazil by conquering and chastising some 
Marauding pirates he from those seas abated. J 
Afterwards Captain on the Indian seas, by whom 
The wall of proud Dama.n, so strongly casemated, 
He shall scale, and still the foremost on walls be seen ; 
Walls covered by fire, and thousands of arrows keen. 

* Nunio da Cunha, one of the most worthy governors. 

t A term derived from Rome or Romans, and applied in the East 
generally to the Turks ; as from the conquering- fame of the Romans, 
the word seems to have assumed there at one time a generic character 
for other conquering armies or people. 

t Martin Alonzo de Souza. He was celebrated for clearing the 



258 THE LTJSTAD. 

LXIV. 

" To him shall be given by proud Cambayan king, 
The strongly fortified and rich Dio, 
That against the very powerful Mogul he may bring 
Force enough to defend the king from such a foe. 
He will march reinforced to watch the Gentoo king, 
So that forth from Calecut he may not go, 
Until made to retire with such as with him came, 
Over bloody field direct to their last long home, 

LXV. 

" He shall destroy the city of Repelin, 

Putting its king and many more to flight. 

And afterwards beside Cape Comorin 

He shall be distinguished in a naval fight. 

The principal flotilla of the Samorim, 

Which, to destroy the world, doubts not its might, 

He shall conquer with the fury of sword and flame, 

Badala shall within herself see the martial game. 

LXTI. 

" Having thus cleared India of enemies, 

He shall come the sceptre of government to wield, 

Nor any resistance meets, nor perils sees, 

None complain, all tremble, but obedience yield, 

Baticula alone will not submit like these ; 

Like Badala shall be made a bloody field ; 

Full of the bodies of the slaughtered dead. 

Defaced by fire, with ruin overspread. 

LXYII. 

" This Martinho surely must derive from Mars 
His name, by the martial works he shall achieve ; 
In arms everywhere as illustrious by his wars, 
As in council sage, and prudent to conceive; 
Castro shall there succeed him, who to the stars 
On high the Portuguese standard shall ever wave, 
Worthy successor pursuing the same ends, 
One Dio builds, the other Dio built defends. 

coast of Brazil of several pirates who were formidable to that infant 
colony. 



CANTO X. 259 

LXYIII. 

" Fierce Persians, Abyssinians and Kumes, 
Who from the warlike Eomans have their name, 
Various in manners, in various costumes, 
A thousand nations come to the siege to blame ; 
The heavens in vain, from earth their grievance comes, 
That a few all the land shall keep from them. 
Swearing that they in Portuguese blood shall bathe, 
The moustache, by which they swear, and through which 
they breathe. 

LXIX. 

" Basilisks terrible, and lions dread. 

Deadly engines, deeply covered over mines ; 

Mascarenhas and the heroes he shall lead. 

Shall withstand, while each his death sees and life resigns. 

Until, in their greatest extremity and need, 

Castro for their deliverance designs 

The offering of his sons, lasting fame to gain 

By sacrificing their lives with Grod to remain. 

LXX. 

" Perdinand one of these, branch of the lofty plant, 
"When the fierce fire shall spring upward from below, 
Lifting the walls in air, in fragments rent, 
Shall be there blown up, and to the heavens shall go, 
His brother Alvaro when winter shall prevent 
Passage through ice, and stops the roads with snow, 
Opening up all, the waves and ways shall beat. 
Likewise the winds, and then the enemies defeat. 

LXXI. 

" Behold afterwards the father shall come o'er 
The sea, with the rest of the people Lusitanian ; 
And vdth strength, and that knowledge, which availeth more, 
Shall sovereign battle give, his ground maintaining. 
Some, scaling walls, dispensing with gate or door, 
Others opening one through squadrons fierce remaining, 
Shall feats perform so worthy of memory. 
Too much for verse, or even for long history. 



260 THE LTJSIAD. 

LXXTI. 

" This liero shall next present himself in the field 

A brave and intrepid conqueror, to face 

The King of Cambaya, and to him shall yield 

The quadrupedal multitude, in disgrace; 

ISTor better shall Hydal-Kaun be able to shield {z 4) ' 

His lands or people from the triumphant race ; 

Which shall chastise Dabi^l upon the shore : 

ISTor shall spare Ponda within the interior. 

LXXIII. 

" This and other brave men, in various parts, 

Being worthy all of fame, and lofty style. 

Proving themselves on earth so many sons of Mars, 

Shall come to enjoy the happiness of this Isle ; 

Bearing triumphant standards from afar, 

Across the waves cut by each piercing keel ; 

These tables to be theirs, and nymphs' approving eyes, 

Grlories and honours, due to great enterprise." 

LXXIV. 

So sang the syren, and the others all 

In loud applauses mingled voices sweet, 

"With which happily their wedding festival, 

So joyously they there did celebrate. 

*' Though fortune's wheel turn both for great and small, 

(These words consonantly the ear did greet,) 

" Never shall fail ye, men so dear to fame, 

Either honour, valour, or a glorious name." 

LXXY. 

After the corporeal necessity 

"Was by the noble entertainment satisfied, 

And in the harmonious sweet suavity, 

The lofty deeds to come, had been prophesied : 

Tethys, adorned with grace and gravity, 

Still loftier glories that she might provide. 

And double the festivity of that happy day. 

Unto the delighted Grama thus did say : 



CANTO X. 261 

LXXYI. 

" Baron ! tliank the bright intelligence Supreme, 
That with corporeal eyes thou now niayest see 
What never entered into vain science' dream, 
Nor erring miserable mortals' fantasy. 
Eollow with firm foot, thou and the rest, to climb 
Up this rugged mountain, stepping after me." 
Thus she spake, — and up through the wild bush led 
Arduous, difScult, and hard to mortal's tread. 

LXXYII. 

They had not travelled much, when at the summit high 
They arrived upon a richly enamelled field 
Of emeralds, and rubies, — such that to the eye 
A soil to be trod by immortal feet revealed ; 
Here they saw in the air a globe, and could descry 
By the clear transparent light which all parts filled, 
That to the centre the eyes as readily went. 
As the bright surface to it was evident. 

LXXYITI. 

What the material was could not be perceived, 
But it was seen very plain that it was composed 
Of various orbs, the E,od divine achieved, (a 5) 
And one centre gave on which they all were posed, 
Bevolving, now going down, now up, conceived 
Never to rise, or go down, and still they exposed 
The same face every way — and in every part 
Beginning, and ending, the same, by divine art. 

LXXIX. 

Uniform, perfect, in itself sustained. 
Such as, in short, by the Archetype it was made. 
Yasco seeing the globe, greatly amazed remained. 
And the whole with deep reverential awe surveyed. 
To him the Goddess — " The world to be explained 
I have here the model before thine eyes displayed, 
Beduced to small volume, that thou mayest on it see 
Whether thou goest, or shalt go, or wishest to be. 



232 THE LIISIAD. 



LXXX. 

" Thou seest here tlie great machine of the world round, 
Ethereal, and elemental, which was made 
Thus by the Wisdom lofty, and profound, 
Which is without beginning, nor by limit staid. 
He who encircles to the last most distant bound 
This globe, with aU its carved surface, and light and shade, 
Is Grod, but what Grod is, none can learn or teach. 
So much to know, human minds can never reach. 

LXXXI. 

" This orb, which outwardly and first surrounds 

The others smaller, within one another. 

Which with such radiant light the otliers bounds. 

As to dazzle the eyes, or common spirits wither ;* 

Is called Empyrean, within whose happy grounds 

Pure spirits enjoy a state of bliss together ; 

So exquisite, that it only enjoyment brings. 

To those who have no resemblance to earthly things. 

LXXXII. 

" The truly glorious Grods alone are here : (5 5) 

Por I, Saturn, Janus, Jupiter, and Juno, 

Are fabulously such upon your sphere, 

By mortals feigned, who from it never do go ; 

Only more delightful to make verse appear, 

Their names and attributes are all that you know. 

And if human society gives names to ours, 

It is because those names up to the stars raised yours. 

LXXXIII. 

" And who because the Providence divine, 
Which here in Jupiter is represented, 
By thousands of spirits, with discretion fine, 
Governs the whole world, with it well acquainted, 
Teaches the prophetic science, and to define, 
By many examples, everywhere presented, 
Those who are virtuous with favour guiding. 
And, as much as possible, the bad impeding. 

* Called by the old philosophers and school divines, the Sensorium 
of the Deity. 



CANTO X. 263 

I/XXXIT. 

" Is pleased that painting may be varied so, 

Delighting now, — and now teaching, to be able 

To represent those ancient poetry did know 

As gods and goddesses, but only in fable : 

That the angels celestial may here below 

Be called gods, and sung in verse imperishable ; 

Nor does forbid that this preeminent name 

Be given to the bad, though falsely, all the same. 

Lxxxy. 

" In short, by secondary causes, the most High, 
Doth in this world, work all things to His will ; 
And here I turn to the works beyond that sky 
Of the Hand Divine, that glorify it still : 
Where souls enjoy those worlds that vivify 
Beneath this circle, which is immoveable, 
Another, the Primum Mobile, with extreme 
Velocity moves, so that it cannot be seen. 

LXXXYI. 

" In this rapid movement, all are borne round, 

That within itself its orbit vast doth sway : 

By which movement, the Sun going contrary is found, 

By such diiferent course to make the night and day. 

Beneath this quick motion, another slow turns round. 

So very slow, and subject to so much delay, 

That while Phoebus runs with unfailing light his race. 

Two hundred times, this only gains one pace. 

LXXXVII. 

" Behold this other lower, in which are sustained 
So many spangled bodies, smooth and radiant, 
"Which also in it have their course ordained, 
And turning on their axes as expedient, 
Thou seest well how they are invested and retained 
With the broad belt of gold in the firmament 
Which bears twelve figured constellations shining. 
The limits of Phoebus' s career defining. 



264 THE LTJSIA.D. 



I.XXXYIII. 



" See in other parts the shining stars appear, 

To be forming pictures ever to remain ; 

Eehold the "Waggon, and the polar Bear, 

Andromeda, her sire, the Dragon's form obscene, 

The beauteous Cassiopoea grasps her hair. 

And furious Orion rages o'er the main ; 

Behold the Swan that singing did expire ; 

The Hare ; the Dog ; the Ship, and the SAveet Lyre, 

LXXXIX. 

" Beneath this firmament grand, thou may'st behold 

The heaven of Saturn, antique deity. 

Then next him Jupiter's mighty sphere is rolled. 

And Mars beneath him, warlike enemy : 

The bright eye of heaven doth the fourth dwelling hold, 

And gentle Venus, rising from the sea ; 

Mercury who sovereign eloquence doth grace ; 

With Diana and her ever-changeful face. 

xc. 

*' In all these difierent orbs before thine eye 

Some slowly move, others at a rapid rate ; 

Now from the centre into distant space they fly, 

And now from the earth their distance is not great ; 

Because the Pather Omnipotent on high 

So willed, who did fire, air, rain and snow create ; 

Which lower still together lie within, 

Having sea and earth for centre, as thou hast seen. 

xci. 

" Upon this centre, man's only dwelling place. 
Who, ever daring, cannot find enough 
Of harm to sufier on terra-firma's face. 
Must also experience ruthless Ocean rough ', 
Thou shalt see the various parts of earthly space, 
By seas divided ; diverse nations parted ofi", 
Various their customs, difierent their kings and sway, 
And various the laws that they obey. 



CAKTO X. 265 



XOII. 



*' There is Christian Europe, celebrated more 
Than the other parts in policy, and strength ; 
There lies Africa, greedy for the world's store, 
Uncultivated her own vast breadth and length : 
Even to its end or Cape, where none before 
Thyself, to nature's southern limit ever went ; 
Behold this land, peopled by a multitude 
"Without laws or civilization, savage, rude. 

XCIII. 

" See what is Eenomotapa's empire wide ? 

A people wild aud barbarous, naked, black ; 

Where Gonzalo suffered disgrace and death, who tried 

To convert to his holy Faith, the savage pack, (c 5) 

This hemisphere unknown doth yet provide 

That metal, which the world so much doth lack : 

See where the Nile pours from its parent lake, 

And Cuama also thence its course doth take. 

XCIY. 

" Look at the negro's wretched huts of mud, 

Without doors or windows, entrusted to their young. 

On royal j ustice, and the neighbourhood. 

Depending for defence against the strong. 

Behold how numerous the brute multitude. 

Like a dense flight of starlings, fields among. 

They shall come to attack Sofala's walls in vain, 

Which jSTaia with a few most stoutly shall maintain, (d 5) 

XCY. 

"See there on high, the foLintains where the Nile 
Is born, which to the ancients were unknown ; 
See it supply, breeding the crocodile, 
The Abyssinian towns, that Jesus own : (e 5) 
See how without walls (in new and lofty style) 
Their garrison is formed by rocks alone ; 
See Meroe, an island of ancient fame, 
AYhich now the inhabitants Nuabia name. 



266 THE LTJSIAD. 

XCYI. 

<' In this land remote, there shall a son of thine 

Acquire renown in arms against the Turks ; 

Don Christoval the name by which he shall shine ; 

But in his success a final evil lurks : (/ 5) 

See where the sea-coast Melinda doth confine 

Which hospitably received thee and thy works : 

The river Eapto mark, which in romance 

Of the country, is called the Ob, enters Quilmance. 

XCYII. 

" Behold the Cape, once Aromata named, 
liSow Guardafui by those dwelling there, 
"Which is the beginning of the shore so famed 
Of the Bed Sea, — whose sands that colour bear. 
This is the boundary by nature framed. 
To divide Asia from Africa : and where 
The best populations, the African shores contain : 
Are those of Ma^ua, Arquico, and Suanquen. 

XOYIII. 

" Behold the extreme at Suez which anciently 
Is said to have been Heroas, or Arsinoe ; 
A city which at present holds the sea 
Tor the fleets of Egypt passing to and fro. 
Upon those waters, through which a road could be 
For Moses opened on dry land to go. 
Asia commences here, great central earth, 
"Where men and opulent kingdoms had their birth. 

XCIX. 

" There stands Mount Sinai, ennobled with the dust 

Of holy Saint Catherine in her virgin tomb :* 

See Toro, and Gridah, where none may trust 

The fountains, that sweet water thence may come. 

Behold the gates of the Strait, that so adjust 

The confines of dry Adem, whose desert gloom 

Beaches to the Serra d' Arzira, rocks of life, 

"Where Heaven never rains, but yet where springs are rife. 

• St. Catherine, Virg-in and Martyr, according- to Romish histories, 
was huried on Sinai, and a chapel erected over her grave. 



CANTO X. 267 

0. 

" Behold the three Arabias, which contain 

A territory vast, and people base, 

Vagrant and low, — yet o'er the boundless plain, 

Bounds the swift courser, slim and of ancient race. 

And see the coast appears beyond again 

Upon the Persian Grulph, where thou may'st trace 

The Cape projecting, which is by the same name shown 

As the city of Earthac on these shores well known. 

01. 

" Eenowned Dofar behold, whose incense breathes 
Most fragrant perfumes for the altars holy : 
But see the other opposite shore bequeathes 
To Kogalgate bare sands most melancholy : 
When Castel Branco there his sword unsheathes, {cf 5) 
In the kingdom of Ormuz, by shores extending solely, 
It shall glitter on their waves, o'er Turkish galleys, 
Making the waters famous by his sallies. 

CII. 

" Behold Cape Asabore, so named no more, 

But by the navigators Mozandan : 

Jut out into that Cape, shut in by the shore 

Of Arabia, and Persia's fertile land. 

Behold the isle of Barem, whose deep store {h 5) 

Of pearls rich, surrounds the beauteous strand. 

Pearls that Aurora imitate ; and thou mayest see 

Tigris and Euphrates united join the sea. 

cm. 

" See of great Persia, that noble empire high. 
Ever in the camp, on horseback still her sons, 
Who condescend not on molten bronze to rely, 
And prefer the use of armour rather than guns, {i 5) 
Behold the island Grerum, where we descry 
What time's long intervals can do and have done, 
That whether the city Armaza, ever stood there, 
Or not ; Grerum did its name and glory share. (^ 5) 



268 THE LUSIAD. 

CIV. 

" Here Don Philip de Menezes yet shall show, 
That valour in arms, the virtue of ancient E-ome, 
Which Lara's numerous Persians yet shall know, 
By Philip and a few Portuguese overcome : 
They shall yet have to bear the reverses, and the blow 
Of Don Pedro de Sousa's powerful arm, by whom 
Ampaza, shall by the sword alone be gained, 
Which only by the same sword shall be maintained. 

cv. 

" But let us quit the strait, and the weH-known 
Cape Jasque, now better known as Cape Carpella, 
With a territory nature doth hardly own, 
Her usual gifts being there of so little value : 
Carmania was the name in times by-gone. 
But behold the famous Indus in the vaUey, 
Born in that moiuitain, near another in these ranges, 
Prom whence descending flows the mighty Granges. 

cvi. 

" Behold Ulcinda's very fertile land, 

And of Jacquet, the familiar road-stead there ; 

The sudden rising of the waters grand. 

And their hasty ebb, leaving all vacant and bare. 

See there the rich Cambaia's fruitful strand, 

To which from sea by the harbour, ships draw near ; 

Other thousand cities' names I do not state, 

That all your future advent there await. 

CVII. 

" You see the famous Indian coast extend 
Southward, as far as to Cape Comorin, 
Now called Oori, and where that coast doth end, 
Taprobana (now called Ceylon), doth close it in. 
Upon this sea shaU the Lusitanians send 
Armed fleets, that after thee victories shall win. 
With lands and cities, in which as fate presages, 
They and theirs have to live for many ages. 



CANTO X. 269 

CVITI. 

" The provinces between these rivers two 

Are injfinite, composing various nations; 

A Mahometan kiDgdom, another G-entoo, 

Which possesses the devils' written profanations. 

Behold the lordship of Narsinga too, 

Possesses the holy and blessed consecrations 

Of the body of Thomas, holy hero, just, 

Who in the side of Jesus Christ his hand did thrust. 

cix. 

" Here stood the city called Meliapor ; 
Famous, because it was large and very rich : 
Which did the ancient idols vile adore, 
And still these inimical people do as much : 
Being then at a great distance from the shore, 
When Thomas came the holy faith to preach, 
Proclaiming it to all the world thus passing through 
A thousand provinces, and this one too. (/ 5) 

ex. 

** Arrived here preaching, and at the same time giving 

Health to the sick, restoring to life who dies. 

It chanced that the shore one day from sea receiving 

A plank of extraordinary size ; 

The King was then about building, and conceiving 

That this plank would make much timber, thereupon tries 

To draw it to the shore with all his forces. 

Of men and engines, elephants and horses. 

CXI. 

" So very great was the weight of this piece of wood, 

That nothing was sufficient even to stir it, 

But the Nuncio of Christ so true and good. 

Less labour employed to move it, or to square it ; 

He tied the cord, he carried, to see if he could 

Mov^e this huge trunk, and found at once he could bear it, 

To where he made a very sumptuous temple, 

E-emaining to future ages an example. 



270 



THE LrSIAD. 



CXII. 



" He knew fall well that if witli well-founded faith, 
A mountain deaf should be commanded to move, 
That a holy voice would move the obedient earth, 
That thus Christ taught, and this did Thomas prove. 
The astonished people saw his holy worth. 
The Brahmins considered him something them above : 
Seeing the mii^acles ; such sanctity appearing, 
To lose their ovni authority much fearing. 

CXIII. 

" These form the sacerdotal sect of the Gentoos, 
Who with envy were most deeply penetrated : 
A thousand methods they try, and deceptions use, 
How Thomas may be ousted, or exterminated. 
The principal, who in his breast would daggers use. 
Makes out a horrible case, so much they hated : 
Shewing there is no enemy so fierce and furious. 
As to sincere and honest virtue is the spurious. 

cxiy. 

''He kills a son of his own ; and doth accuse 
Thomas of homicide, who was innocent ; 
raise testimonies bring they, there in common use. 
And briefly condemn him to death irreverent. 
The saint, who sees no prospect of excuse, 
But to appeal to the Pather Omnipotent, 
Prays that before the King and lords he may 
"Work some miracle that their cruelty may stay. 

CXY. 

** He orders the dead body to be brought. 

That it arise, and that it be requested 

To name the murderer, saying that they ought 

To believe his witness, who the truth attested : 

All who saw the youth raised to life ; a miracle wrought 

In the name of Jesus crucified ; death arrested : 

Gave thanks unto Thomas — who that life supplied. 

And discover the father was the homicide. 



CAITTO X. 271 

CXVI. 

" This miracle caused so great a consternation, 
That the King thereupon, bathed in water blessed. 
And many more besides ; one in veneration, 
Sang the God of Thomas ; another his mantle kissed. 
The Brahmins were so filled with detestation, 
The poison of envy so much them distressed, 
That persuading the rude people he ought to fall, 
They determined they shoiild kill him, after all, 

CXVII. 

'* One day while engaged unto the people preaching. 
They pretended among the crowd to hear a noise : 
When Christ, at this time, satisfied with his long teaching, 
Had ordered, that suffering, he should to heaven arise. 
The multitude of stones then thrown, and reaching 
The saint, as exposed to them he prostrate lies : 
One of the crowd, that he should sooner be released, 
"With cruel lance transfixed his holy breast. 

CXVIIL 

" Then for thee Thomas, Ganges and Indus grieved ; 
For thee wept all the earth o'er which thou hadst trod ; 
Still more for thee wept the souls that thou hadst saved 
From sin, — ^by the holy faith, taught to worship God, 
But the angels in heaven singing, in joy received 
Thee in thy glory gained in the thorny road ; 
We pray thee, that with God thou wilt endeavour 
Thy Lusitanians ever more to favour, {m 5) 

CXIX. 

" And ye who to yourselves arrogate the sacred name 
Of the commanded, as Thomas was, of God, 
I should ask, if ye were so commanded ; how it came 
To pass, without preaching the holy faith abroad ? 
Behold ! if ye be the salt, and yourselves condemn 
In your native land which no prophet ever had. 
Wherewith can ever be salted, in days like these, 
(I omit infidels), so many heresies '^ 



272 



THE LTJSIAD. 



cxx. 



" But from this dangerous matter I pass on, 
Eeturning to the coast just represented, 
Now to this famous city so well known, 
The Gangetic bay curves round, by ghauts indented, 
Through which the rich Narsinga hurries down ; 
There flows the Orixa, where rich stuff's are plenty; 
And, at the head of the bay, the illustrious river 
Granges into sahne waters pours for ever. 

cxxi. 

" Granges, in which the inhabitants rejoice 

And bathing, die, quite certain that although 

They may be great sinners, its waters will suffice 

To purify them from this world to go. 

See Cathegon, which is one of the most choice 

Cities of Bengal, a province thou mayest know 

By its great abundance: but see where the coast doth trend 

Tar to the south, what other nations extend. 

CXXII. 

'' See the kingdom of Arracan, and see Pegu, 
By monsters peopled now of habits vile; 
The monstrous off'spring of barbarians who 
Did what with fair nature none can reconcile. 
It was their custom to mutilate and undo 
Creation's work, and procreation spoil : 
Until a virtuous Qneen did introduce 
An invention to restrain such vile abuse. 

CXXIII. 

" Behold the city of Tavay, where commenced 
Of great Siam, the empire so very small ; 
Tenasserim, Queda, the place from whence 
Pepper is obtained, producing enough for all. 
[Farther on thou mayest recognise from hence 
Malacca, the noble emporium which shall 
Across the whole province of the waters grand, 
Send all the richest products of the land. 



CAIfTO X, 



CXXIV, 



273 



" They say that between this land, the mighty waves 
Of the sea entering, did the same divide 
From the noble isle Sumatra ; and that it lavevS 
Where the ancients saw both united stem the tide. 
Chersonesns it was called, and because its caves 
Shewed veins of gold, which the earth also supplied ; 
The epithet of Golden to the name was joined; 
Others, to believe this was Ophir, were inclined. 

CXXY. 

" But in that point of the land called Cingapore, 
Thou seest where the way for vessels turning round 
Is straitened, and that thence north the Indian shore 
Encurves, and crookedly the land doth boimd. 
Thou seest Pan, Patana, kingdoms that with more 
To long extending Siam, shall be subject found : 
Behold the river Menam which from the great lake 
Called Chiamai, its lengthened course doth take. 

CXXYI. 

" Behold the different names in this great land 

Of a thousand nations that never have been known ; 

The Laos, in surface and numbers, powerful stand, 

Ava, and Burmah, between stiff ranges hold their own. 

See other people in remoter mountains grand, 

Called Grueos, savages austere and lone ; 

Human ilesh they eat, but even their own they paint, 

"With red-hot iron cruelly, without complaint, 

CXXYII, 

'* See, through Camboya, passes the Mecom rirer, 
CaUed Captain of the waters by its name ; (n 5) 
Heceiving so much from these that it Hows over, 
Covering vast plains in summer with the same. 
It has its risings like cold Nile, and ever 
The people beside it, believe what we disclaim ; 
Punishment, or glory awarded after death 
To all kinds of brute animals of the earth, 

N 2 



274 THE LTTSIAD. 

CXXYIII. 

'' This, placidly and mildly, shall receive 
The Cantos which to its strand shall float in wet 
JFrom the shipwreck sad, and miserable, to live 
Escaped from the stormy reefs much longer yet ; 
Prom hunger, from imminent peril still shall save 
When the unjust banishment shall decide the fate 
Of him, whose lyre, although of lofty sound, 
Shall be, I fear, less happy than renowned. 

CXXIX. 

'' Thou seest that coast called Champa far extend. 

Whose shores the perfume of scented wood exhale : 

Cochin China, of fame obscure, doth yonder trend, 

And of Ainao mark the unknown roadstead well. 

Here that empire proud, of vast wealth and boundless land, 

China, extends, and there its millions dwell ; 

Even from the burning Tropic spreading o'er 

The earth, to its highest mounts and farthest shore. 

cxxx. 

" Behold the wall, a building not to be believed. 

Between our empire and another, erected 

A most certain, and most signal work, achieved 

By sovereign power alone to be effected. 

Of these, the King they have was not born or received 

A prince, nor are his sons as such respected ; 

They only choose him whose fame and merit lies 

In being learned, virtuous, good and wise. 

CXXXI. 

" still there is much land hidden from thee beyond, 
Until the- time shall come for it to be shewn ; 
But fail not to look at the sea and isles around. 
Where nature chooses to make herself best known. 
This hidden half which here doth correspond 
To China, though at a distance, where they had gone. 
Is Japaij., whence they obtained the plate so fine, 
With which is illustrated our law divine. 



CXXXII. 

" Behold scattered amongst these Oriental seas, 
Infinite islands all about, of various size ; 
Tidore, and Ternate, with the fervent blaze 
On its summit, from which the wavy flames arise. 
Thou seest where the hot clove grows on the trees, 
Still to be bought by Portuguese victories, 
Here are the golden birds, which never to earth 
Descend, appearing only at their death.* 

CXXXIII. 

" Behold the Isles of Banda, enamelled by 
The various colours that paint the rosy fruit, 
The birds of plumage of most varied dye, 
From the green kernel extracting their tribute. 
See also Borneo, weeping a supply 
Of tears, in the liquor coagulate, exute, 
From the trees, whereof camphor is the name, 
In the celebrated island, by name the same. 

cxxxiy. 

" There also is Timor, possessing the wood 
Salubrious sandal, with the sweet perfume. 
See Sunda, whose spreading territory broad, 
Can scarcely in the hidden south find room : 
Where the people from the inland valleys rude 
Tell of a wonderful river whence they come, 
Where the water, by its quality alone, 
Converts the wood that falls in it into stone. 

CXXXT. 

" Behold in that which time turned into an Isle, 
That from it also tremulous flames arise ; 
The fountain outpouring oil, and the miracle 
Of perfumed liquor the trunk of a tree supplies, 
More fragrant than what she ever could distil ; 
Cyniras' daughter beneath Arabian skies, 
And see that, while with the rest, this these divides, 
Tliis Isle gives soft silk, and purest gold besides. 

* These are commonly called Birds of Paradise. It was the old 
erroneous opinion that they always soared in the air, and that the 
female hatched her young- on the back of the male. — Mickle, 



276 THE LtJSIAD. 



CXXXTI. 

*' See in Ceylorij tlie mountain rise so higli 

As to pass the clouds, or else tlie sight deceive ; 

The natives believe it holy, and glorify 

A human foot-print the rocks did there receive. 

There grows a plant, a wondrous remedy, 

In the profound depths of the sea, by the Isles Maldive : 

Whose apple against the deadliest poison is sought, 

And held to be an excellent antidote. 

CXXXVIT* 

" Thou seest in front of the red estuary, 

Socotora with the famous bitter aloe ; 

Other islands also subject to you in the sea, 

On the sandy coast of Africa thou mayst know. 

Whence comes from the most perfect incense that can be. 

The mass to the world occult, esteemed so ; 

Of San Lorenzo now behold the Isle ; 

Which by some is Madagascar called the while. 

CXXXVIII. 

" See here those new parts of the East which ye, 

Unto the rest of the world now have given ; 

Opening the gate, making patent the vast sea. 

Through which, with such firm front ye have bravely striven . 

But it is only fair that ye should also see. 

What to the West by a Lusitanian shall be given ; 

Who, ofiended with his own king, shall sail around, 

To the westward, as thou an eastern way hast found. 

CXXXIX. 

" Thou seest that great continuous portion of earth. 
Stretching from pole to pole acoss the Line ; 
Which is to become proud of the prurient birth, 
Of that metal which like Apollo bright doth shine. 
Castille, your Mend and neighbour, shall first go forth 
Over the rude neck to cast a collar indign : 
A'^arious provinces shall hold, with people various, 
In rites and customs differiug, multifarious. 



CANTO X. 277 



CXL. 



" But here where that land is broadest, ye shall have 

Also a part, for the yellow bread well known : 

The name of Santa Cruz to it ye shall give 

When the first of your fleets exploring shall have gone, 

Along the extensive coast shall then the brave 

Magalhaens sail, examining parts unknown : 

In deeds of fortitude and enterprise, 

But not in loyalty, a Portuguese. 

CXLI. 

" After he shall have proceeded more than half the way, 

Between the Pole Antarctic and the Line : 

He shall see men of almost giant stature, and they 

The native inhabitants of the land and clime. 

And further, the strait to which at a later day. 

They shall give his name ; by which a way they shall find 

To another sea, and land which the sea divides. 

And which the south, with his cold wings, at present hides, 

CXLII. 

" Thus far, Portuguese ! unto you I have shewn 
The future events, and what yet shall be done 
On that sea, which ye leave, which now to you is known ; 
To which again your brave Barons soon shall come. 
Now then, that you have bravely undergone 
The labours which make you accepted, every one. 
And each a spouse beautiful and eternal owns. 
Who evermore shall weave you glorious crowns. 

CXLIII. 

*' Ye may now forthwith embark, the weather is fine, 
And tranquil is the sea, — for your loved land." 
Thus she said, and thereupon moved the isle divine, 
Of happiness and love the welcome strand. 
They take the noble refreshments of every kind, 
Likewise the much beloved and social band 
Of Nymphs, — to them united eternally. 
Longer than earth by the sun shall warmed be. 



278 THE LtJSIAD, 

CXLIV. 

Thus they set out, cutting tkpougli the sea serene, 
With the wind always gentle, meeting no storm, 
Until the desired land hove in sight again ; 
The ever-beloved country in which they were born. 
Once more they enter the mouth of the Tagus, when 
Their country, their king, feared and beloved, a warm 
deception gave ; and glory, and the reward, 
And new titles on the illustrious conferred. 

CXLV. 

No more, my Muse ! no more ! my lyre unstrung. 
Is out of tune, and hoarse is grown my voice, 
And not with song ; but from seeing that I have sung 
To people deaf, obdurate, without taste or choice ; 
That favour which most doth fire the Muses' tongue. 
The country giveth not, no — it doth more rejoice, 
In the taste acquisitive ; or, instead of gladness, 
Broods in austere, vile, and overwhelming sadness. 

CXLYI. 

And, I know not by what influence or fate, 
Feels no pride, nor hath national taste to gratify, 
Which keep the mind constantly up to working rate, 
The countenance cheerful, and the spirits high. 
For this, King, by divine will in royal estate. 
Thy nation's greatness still to magnify : 
Oh, see that thou art, (behold the other nations) 
Lord of a people of excellent inclinations ! 

CXLYII. 

See that they joyful take their various ways. 
Whether in fighting lions or brave bulls, that all 
Against hunger, and thirst, and sleep, do strive or assay 
The iron, the fire, the arrows, and the ball. 
Against warm climates, frozen sea or icy bay, 
The idolaters blows, the alarido call. 
Against all the untried dangers of the world. 
Shipwrecks and sharks, until down to the bottom hurled. 



CANTO X. 



CXLVIII. 



279 



To serve in every extremity, prepared, 

In distant regions, ever obedient 

To any command severe, without regard 

To its rigour, without reply, prompt, and content. 

With only knowing that you about them cared, 

Infernal devils black and hot up sent, 

"With thee they would attack, and never doubt, 

That a conqueror not conquered thou should' st come out. 

CXLIX. 

Favour them afterwards, make them indeed rejoice. 
With thy presence, and in kind humanity ; 
About rigorous laws, allow them still a voice ; 
Thus is opened the way to public sanity : 
Let the most experienced be still thy choice, 
(If with the experience they have not vanity), 
Eor thy counsellors, as they ought best to know 
The how, the when, and the what, it is best to do. 

CL. 

Favour all in their particular offices. 

According to their services or ability — 

Give to religious persons exercises. 

In prayer for thy house, and royal dignity. 

For fasts and discipline, therein 'gainst the vices 

Common : all ambition will then seem vanity ; 

The truly good religious will not desire 

Yain glory of this world, — nor money require. 

CLI. 

Ever hold the cavaliers in much esteem. 
Since with their intrepid and fervent blood 
They not only serve to extend the law of Him 
Who for us died, but for thy empire too have stood. 
Since they who to so very remote a clime 
Proceed to serve thee, may be understood 
Two enemies to conquer ; the living being one. 
The other (and worst) the hardship undergone. 



280 THE LUSIAD. 

CLII. 

Order it so, Kiiig, that never tlie admired 
Germans, Grauls, Italians, or English, may say 
That they to have "Commands" are more desired 
Than the Portuguese, or fitter are than they. 
Take counsel but from those who experience acquired 
By living long years and months, although we may 
Believe that in science there is much ; still we owe 
To age and experience almost all we know. 

CLTIT. 

Phormio, eloquent Grecian, when before 

Hannibal, and teaching youth, was a lesson taught ; 

When he digressed to lecture on the art of war. 

And the great general was asked next what he thought. 

" Military discipline is not fancy, nor 

Can it, Sh%" he said, " be studied as it ought, 

Either by dreaming, imaginiDg, or writing. 

But by seeing the enemy, marching, fighting." 

CLIV. 

But I who humbly speak with rude voice and low ; 
Who am to thee unknown, even in thy dreams, 
Erom "babes and sucklings mouths," however, know, 
Such praise sometimes comes forth as God esteems. 
I have neither wanted in my life enough to do, 
With long experience mixed, as best beseems, 
Nor genius such as now thou here dost find, 
Qualities, not frequently together joined. 

CLY. 

To serve thee, in arms this body has service known ; 
To sing thee, this mind has drank the Muses' stream, 
All I want, is to be accepted and to thee known, 
By whom virtue ought to be known and in esteem. 
If the Heavens grant me this, and thy breast may own, 
Emprises worthy of song, and a lofty theme j 
As the presaging mind may anticipate, 
Beholding thy inclination to be great ; 



CANTO X. 281 

CLVI. 

Then far more powerful than that of Medusa, 
Thy sight alone may Mount Atlas terrify ; 
Or embattled upon plains of Ampelusa, 
The Moors of Marocco and Trudante thee shall fly ; 
Then joyfully would my esteemed and happy Muse, so 
Throughout the world sing thy praises high, 
That another Alexander thou shouldst then be ; 
"Who need not of Achilles feel any envy. 



END OF THE LrSIAD. 



NOTE S. 



Page 2 (a). King Sebastian. 

On the 4th of August, 1578, in the 25th year of his age, he gave 
battle to the Usurper (who had deposed Muley Molucco) on the plains 
of Alcazar. This was the memorable engagement to which the Moorish 
Emperor, extremely weakened by sickness, was carried in his litter. 
By the impetuosity of the attack, the first line of the Moorish infantry 
was broken, and the second disordered* Muley Molucco on this 
mounted his horse, drew his sabre, and would have put himself at the 
head of his troops, but was prevented by his attendants. On this act 
of violence, his emotion of mind was so great that he fell from his horse, 
and one of his guards having caught him in his arms, conveyed him to 
his litter, where, putting his finger on his lips, to enjoin them silence, 
he immediately expired. Hamet Taba stood by the curtains of the 
carriage, opened them from time to time, and gave out orders as if 
he had received them from the Emperor. Victory declared for the 
Moors, and the defeat of the Portuguese was so total, that not above 
fifty of their whole army escaped. Hieron de Mendoga and Sebastian de 
Mesa relate that Don Sebastian, after having two horses killed under 
him, was surrounded and taken ; but the party who had secured him 
quarrelling among themselves whose prisoner he was, a Moorish 
officer rode up and struck the King a blow over the right eye, which 
brought him to the ground ; when, despairing of ransom, the others 
killed him. 

Page 3 {b). " Yet still left far beyond, where he descends.'^ 

Imitated, perhaps, from Rutilius, speaking of the Roman Empire : 

Volvitur ipse tibi, qui conspicit omnia, Phoebus, 

Atque tuis ortos in tua, condit equos. 

Or more probably, from these lines of Buchanan, addressed to John 

in. King of Portugal, the grandfather of Sebastian : 

Inque tuis Phoebus reguis oriensque cadeusque 

Vix longum fesso conderet ascediem, 
Et qusecunque vago se circumvolvit Olympo 
Affulget ratibus flamma ministra tuis. 

Page 7 (c). Viriatus. 
This brave Lusitanian, who was first a shepherd and a famous 
hunter, and afterwards a captain of banditti, exasperated at the tyranny 
of the Romans, encouraged his countrymen to revolt and shake off the 
yoke. Being appointed General, he defeated Vetilius the Prsetor, who 
commanded in Lusitania, or farther Spain. After this, he defeated in 
three pitched battles, the Prsetors C. Plautius Hypsseus, and Claudius 
Unimanus, though they led against him very numerous armies. For 
six years he continued victorious, putting the Romans to flight 



KOTES. 283 

wherever he met them, and laying waste the countries of their allies. 
Having obtained such advantages over the Proconsul Sevilianus, that 
the only choice which was left to the Roman army was death or slavery ; 
the brave Viriatus, instead of putting them all to the sword, as he could 
easily have done, sent a deputation to the General, oifering to conclude 
a peace with him on this single condition : TJiat he should continue 
master of the country now in his power, and that the Romans should 
remain possessed of the rest of Spain. 

The Proconsul, who expected nothing but death or slavery, thought 
these very favourable and moderate terms, and without hesitation con- 
cluded a peace, which was soon after ratified by the Roman Senate and 
people. Viriatus, by this treaty, completed the glorious design he had 
always in view, which was to erect a kingdom in the vast country he 
had conquered from the Republic. And had it not been for the 
treachery of the Romans, he would have become, as Florus calls him, 
the Romulus of Spain : he would have founded a monarchy capable of 
counterbalancing the power of Rome. 

Page 14 (d). '^ Whose parentaffe joined the Gentile and theJeivJ*' 

Mohammed, who was descended from Ishmael, the son of Abraham 
by Hagar. 

Page 18 (e). " Carry into effect what in his mind he would." 
Zacocia (Governor of Mozambic) made no doubt but our people were 
of some Mahommedan country. The mutual exchange of good offices 
between our people and these islanders promised a long continuance of 
friendship, but it proved otherwise. No sooner did Zacocia under- 
stand they were Christians, than all his kindness was turned into the 
most bitter hatred ; he began to meditate their ruin, and sought by 
every means to destroy the fleet. — Osorio, Bp. of Sylves. Hist, of the 
Portug. Discov. 

Page 19 (/). *' Who from the thigh paternal had been horn." 
According to the Arabians, Bacchus was nourished during his 
infancy in a cave of Mount Meros, which in Greek signifies a thigh. 
Hence the fable. 

Page 23 {g). ^^ From hands by rage and terror at once distressed." 
Tamque faces et saxa volant, furor arma ministrat. — Virg. En. I. 
The Spanish Commentator on this place relates a very extraordinary 
instance of the furor arma ministrans. A Portuguese soldier at the 
siege of Diu, in the Indies, being surrounded by the enemy, and 
having no ball to charge his musket, pulled out one of his teeth, and 
with it supplied the place of a bullet. 

Page 26 {h). "■ From where the false pilot thought to make them stray." 
The circumstance now mentioned by Camoens is an historical fact. 
" The Moorish pilot," says De Barros, " intended to conduct the 
Portuguese into Quiloa, telling them that place was inhabited by 
Christians ; but a sudden storm arising, drove the fleet from that 
shore, where death or slavery would have been the certain fate of Gama 



284 NOTES. 

and his companions. The villany of the pilot was afterwards dis- 
covered. As Gama was endeavouring to enter the port of Mombaze, 
his ship struck on a sand bank ; and finding their purpose of bringing 
him into the harbour defeated, two of the Moorish pilots leaped into 
the sea and swam ashore. Alarmed at this tacit acknowledgment of 
guilt, Gama ordered two other Moorish pilots who remained on board 
to be examined by whipping, who, after some time, made a full confes- 
sion of the intended villany. This discovery greatly encouraged 
Gama and his men, who now interpreted the sudden storm which had 
driven them from Quiloa as a miraculous interposition of the Divine 
Providence in their favour." 



NOTES TO CANTO II. 

Page 29 (i). 
After Gama had been driven from Quiloa by a sudden storm, the 
assurances of the Mozambic pilot that the city was chiefly inhabited by 
Christians, strongly inclined him to enter the harbour of Mombaze: 
" Necullum locum, (says Osorius), magis opportunum curandis atque 
reficiendis segrotis posse reperiri : Jam eo tempore bona pars eorum, 
qui cum Gama conscenderant, variis morbis consumpta fuerat, et qui 
evaserant erant gravi invaletudine debih;.ati .... Tellus abundat fruc- 
tibus et oleribus, et frugibus, et pecorum et armentorum gregibus et 
aquis dulcibus. Utitur prseterea mira coeliteraperie. Homines vivunt 
admodum laute, et domos more nostro sedificant. Misit rex nuncios, 
qui Gamam nomine illius salutarent .... Aiunt deinde regionem illam 
esse opulentissimam, earumque rerum omnium plenissimam, quarum 
gratia multi in Indiam navigabant. Regem adeo esse in illos voluntate 
propensum ut nihil esset tarn difficile, quod non se eorum gratia fac- 
turum polliceretur." — Osorius Silvensis Episc. de Rebus Emman. Regis 
Lusit. gestis. 

Page 30 (k). Note to Stanza VIL 

During the reign of Emmanuel, and his predecessor John II., few 
criminals were executed in Portugal. These great and political princes 
employed the lives which were forfeited to the public in the most 
dangerous undertakings of public utility. In their foreign expeditions, 
the condemned criminals were sent upon the most hazardous emergen- 
cies. If death was their fate, it was the punishment they had merited ; 
if successful in what was required, their crimes were expiated ; and 
often, as in the voyage of Gama, they rendered their country the 
greatest atonement for their guilt which men in their circumstances 
could possibly make. 

Page 31 (/). Stanza XV. 

When Gama lay at anchor among the islands of St. George, near 
to Mozambic, " there came three Ethiopians on board, (says Faria y 
Sousa) who, seeing St. Gabriel painted on the poop, fell on their 
knees in token of their Christianity, which had been preached to them 
in the primitive times, though now corrupted." Barros, c. 4. and Cast- 



I^-QTES, 285 

aneda, 1. i. c. 9. report, that the Portuguese found two or three 
Abyssinian Christians in the city of Mombaze, who had an oratory in 
the house. 

The following short account of the Christians of the East may 
perhaps be acceptable. In the south parts of Malabar, about 
200,000 of the inhabitants professed Christianity before the arrival of 
the Portuguese. They called themselves the Christians of St. Thomas, 
by which apostle their ancestors had been converted. For 1300 years 
they had been under the patriarch of Babylon, who appointed their 
Meterane or Archbishop. Dr. Geddes, in his history of the Church 
of Malabar, relates that Fraiicisco Roz, a Jesuit Missionary, com- 
plained to Menezes, the Portuguese archbishop of Goa, that when he 
shewed these people an image of our Lady, they cried out, "Away 
with that filthiness, we are Christians, and do not adore idols or 
pagods." 

Page 35 (m). " Held the escape to be a miracle; and said ;" 
Osorius gives the following account of this adventure. Talking of 
the two exiles whom Gama had sent on shore : "Rex laeta et hilari 
fronte exules accepit, imperavitque domesticis suis, ut illis urbis 
situm et pulchritudinem demonstrarent. Ubi vero reversi sunt Rex 
multa aromatum genera, quae ex India deportari solent, illis os- 
tentat, et quantulum visum est donat, ut Gamse raonstrare possent, 
et admonere, quanto esset utilius apud Regem amicum rem gerere, 
quam vitam tam periculosse navigationi committere. Cum his man- 
datis redeunt exules in classem, Gama mirifice laetatus est, et postridie 
anchoras tolli juhet, et naves prope urbem constitui. Cum vero illius 
navis aestus incitati vi celerius, quam commodum esset, inveheretur, 
timens ille nC in vadum incideret, vela contrahere et anchoras demit- 

tere, confestim jussit Quo facto Mozambiquenses gubernatores 

metu repentino perculsi, se prsecipites in mare dejiciunt, et ad lintres 
quasdam, quae non procul aberat, naudo confugiunt .... At Gama 
magnis vocibus ad eos, qui in lintribus erant, inclamavit, ut sibi suos 
gubernatores redderent : at illi clamores illius aspernati, gubernatores 
in terram exposuerunt. Hie Gama cum et conjectura, et aliquo etiam 
Arabis gubernatoris indicio, et multis praeterea signis, perspixisset e 
quanto periculo fuisset auxilio divino liberatus, manus in coelum sus- 
tulit." Barros and Castaneda, in relating this part of the voyage of 
Gama, says, that the fleet, just as they w^ere entering the port of 
Mombassa were driven back, as it were, by an invisible hand. By a 
subsequent note it will appear that the safety of the armada depended 
upon this circumstance. 

Page 40 (n). " When his own barbed arrows shall him impale.^' 
Both Barros and Castaneda relate this fact. Albuquerque, during the 
war of Ormuz, having given battle to the Persians and Moors, by the 
violence of a sudden wind the arrows of the latter were driven back 
upon themselves, whereby many of their troops were wounded. 

Page 41 (o). ^^ The offended Lusitanian frst did see." 
Magalhaens, a most celebrated navigator. Neglected by Emmanuel 



286 KOTES. 

King of Portugal, he offered his services to the King of Spain, under 
whom he made most important discoveries round the Straits, which 
bear his name, and in the back parts of South America ; acquirements, 
which at this day are of the utmost value to the Spanish Empire. 
Page 43 (p). '* Than from cruel Diomedes was obtained. 

Diomede, a tyrant of Thrace, who fed his horses with human flesh ; 
a thing, says the grave Castera, " presque incroyable." Busiris, was 
a king of Egypt, who sacrificed strangers, 

Quis — illaudati nescit Busiridis aras ? — Virg. Georg. iii. 

Hercules vanquished both these tyrants, and put them to the same 
pnnishments which their cruelty had inflicted on others. Isocrates 
composed an oration in honour of Busiris ; a masterly example of 
Attic raillery and satire. To this Castera wisely appeals, to prove tbe 
truth of the history of that tyrant. 

Page 44 (q). " Sailing, and not remaining , they escaped.'^ 

Having mentioned the escape of the Moorish pilots, Osorius pro- 
ceeds : " Rex deinde homines magno cum silentio scaphis et lintribus 
submittebet, qui securibus auchoralia nocte prseciderent. Quod nisi 
fuisset a nostris singulari Gamae industria vigilatum, et insidiis scele- 
rati illius regis occursum, nostri in summum vitiE discrimen incidis- 
sent." 

Page 47 (r), *'And out of them acquires a precious hardness.^' 
Vimen erat dum stagna subit, processerat undis 
Gemma fuit. Claud. 

Sic et coralium, quo primam contigit auras 
Tempore durescit, mollis fuit herba sub undis. Ovid. 
Page 44 (js). " He orders besides one of eloquent address.'* 
There were on board Gama's fleet several persons skilled in the 
Oriental languages. Osor. 

Page 52 {t). " Crimson the colour ; of which so much is thought." 
Camoens seems to have his eye on the picture of Gama, which is 
thus described by Faria y Sousa . " He is painted with a black cap, 
cloak and breeches edged with velvet, all slashed, through which 
appears the crimson lining, the doublet of crimson satin, and over it 
his armour inlaid with gold." 



NOTES TO CANTO III. 

Page b^ (u). Stanzas I. and II. 
Calliope, the Muse of Epic Poesy, and mother of Orpheus. Daphne, 
daughter of the river Peneus, flying from Apollo, was turned into the 
laurel; Clytia was metamorphosed into the sunflower ; and Leucothoe, 
who was buried alive by her father for yielding to the soHcitations of 
Apollo, was by her lover changed into an incense tree. The physical 
meaning of these fables is obvious. .,^,.. 



NOTES. 287 

61 (y). " Rivers of silver ran, and rivers of gold." 

Pj'rene was daughter to Bebryx, a king of Spain, and concubine to 
Hercules. Having wandered one day from her lover she was des- 
troyed by wild beasts, on one of the mountains which bear her name. 
Diodorus Siculus, and others, derive the name of the Pyrenees from 
TTvpfre. To support which etymology they relate, that by the neg- 
ligence of some shepherds the ancient forests on these mountains were 
set on fire, and burned with such vehemence, that the melted metals 
spouted out and ran down from the sides of the hills. The allusion 
to this old tradition is in the true spirit of Homer and Virgil. 

Page 61 {w). " By the Theian's extreme labour on eachrock.'^ 

Hercules, says the fable, to crown his labours, separated the two 
mountains Calpe and Abyla, the one now in Spain, the other in 
Africa, in order to open a canal for the benefit of commerce ; on 
which the ocean rushed in, and formed the Mediterranean, the JEgean 
and Euxine Seas. 

Page 62 (<r). *' There was a King of Spain, hy name Alphonso." 

Don Alphonso, King of Spain, apprehensive of the superior number 
of the Moors, with whom he was at war, demanded assistance from 
Philip T. of France, and the Duke of Burgundy. According to the mili- 
tary spirit of the nobility of that age, no sooner was his desire known 
than numerous bodies of troops thronged to his standard. These in the 
course of a few years, having shewn signal proofs of their courage> 
the king distinguished the leaders with different marks of his regard. 
To Henry, a younger son of the Duke of Burgundy, he gave his 
daughter Teresa in marriage, with the sovereignty of the countries to 
the south of Galicia, commissioning him to enlarge his boundaries by 
the expulsion of the infidels. Under the government of this great 
man, who reigned by the title of Count, his dominion was greatly en- 
larged, and became more rich and populous than before. The two 
provinces of Entre Minho e Douro, and Tras os Monies, were sub- 
dued, with that part of Beira which was held by the Moorish king of 
Lamego, whom he constrained to pay tribute. Many thousands of 
Christians who had either lived in miserable subjection to the Moors, 
or in desolate independency in the mountains, took shelter under the 
protection of Count Henry. Great multitudes of the Moors also 
chose rather to submit and remain in their native country under a 
mild government, than be exposed to the severities and the continual 
feuds and seditions of their own governors. These advantages, added 
to the great fertility of the soil of Henry's dominions, will account 
for the numerous armies and the frequent wars of the first sovereigns 
of Portugal. 

Page 68 {y). " Warrior dames tJieir friends follow , brave a)id wise." 
The Spanish and Portuguese histories afford several instances of 
the Moorish chiefs being attended in the field of battle by their mis- 
tresses, and of the romantic gallantry and amazonian courage of these 
ladies. 



288 ifOTES. 

Page 70 (z), " BroJcen and put to flight the Spanish Moor." 
This memorable battle was fought in the plains of Ourique, in 1139. 
The engagement lasted six hours ; the Moors were totally routed with 
incredible slaughter. On the field of battle Alonzo was proclaimed 
King of Portugal. 

Page 72 {a 2). " Come a long way to sustain the land and people " 
The aqueduct of Sertorius, here mentioned, is one of the grandest 
remains of antiquity. It was repaired by John III. of Portugal, 
about A.D. 1540. 

Page 78 (6 2). ^^ In this he the valiant assistance gained 

Of the German armament." 
The Portuguese in their wars with the Moors were several times 
assisted by the English and German Crusades. In the present in- 
stance the fleet was mostly English, the troops of which nation were 
according to agreement, rewarded with the plunder, which was exceed- 
ing richj of the city of Silves. — Nuniz de Leon as Cronicas dos Rets 
de Port. 

Page 82 (c 2). '* He therefore sent his most dear consort trembling." 

The Princess Mary. She was a lady of great beauty and virtue, 

but was exceedingly ill used by her husband, who was violently 

attached to his mistresses, though he owed his crown to the assistance 

of his father-in-law, the King of Portugal. 

Page 86 {d2). 
*' When the waters mia;ed with the blood of the adversary, 
Were dranJc by the army of those who made H flow." 
When the soldiers of Marius complained of thirst, he pointed to a 
river near the camp of the Ambrones ; there, says he, you may drink, 
but it must be purchased with blood. Lead us on, they replied, that 
we may have something liquid, though it be blood. The Romans, 
forcing their way to the river, the channel was filled with the dead 
bodies of ,the slain. Vid. Plut. 

Page 8^ (e 2). " Thou wert, lovely Ignez, placed in soft repose." 
This unfortunate lady, Donna Inez de Castro, was the daughter of 
a Castilian gentleman, who had taken refuge in the Court of Portugal. 
Her beauty and accomplishments attracted the regard of Don Pedro, 
the King's eldest son, a prince of a brave and noble disposition. La 
Neufville, Le Clede, and other historians, assert, that she was pri- 
vately married to the prince ere she had any share in his bed. Nor 
was his conjugal fidelity less remarkable than the ardour of his passion. 
Afraid, however, of his father's resentment, the severity of whose 
temper he knew, his intercourse with Donna Inez passed at the Court 
as an intrigue of gallantry. On the accession of Bon Pedro the 
duel to the throne of Castile, many of the disgusted nobility were 
kindly received by Don Pedro, through the interest of his beloved 
Inez. The favour shewn to these Castilians gave great uneasiness to 
the politicians. A thousand evils were foreseen from the prince's 
attachment to his Castilian mistress ; even the murder of his children 



NOTES. 289 

by his deceased spouse, the Princess Constantia, was surmised ; and 
the enemies of Donna Inez, finding the king willing to listen, omitted 
no opportunity to increase his resentment against the unfortunate lady. 
The prince was about his 28th year when his amour with his beloved 
Inez commenced. 

Page 89 (/ 2). " Savages ye shewed yourselves, and cavaliers .^" 

To give the character of Alphonso IV. will thi'ow light on this 
inhuman transaction. He was an undutiful son, an unnatural brother, 
and a cruel father ; a great and fortunate warrior, diligent in the exe- 
cution of the laws, and a Machiavelian politician. That good might 
be attained by villainous means, was his favourite maxim. When the 
enemies of Inez had persuaded him that her death was necessary 
to the welfare of the state, he took a journey to Coimbra, that he 
might see the lady, when the prince his son was absent on a hunting 
party. Donna Inez with her children threw herself at his feet. The 
king was moved with the distress of the beautiful suppliant, when his 
three counsellors, Alvaro Gonsalez, Diego Lopez Paeheco, and Pedro 
Coello, reproaching him for his disregard to the state, he relapsed to 
his former resolution. She was dragged from his presence and bru- 
tally murdered by the hands of his three counsellors, who immediately 
returned to the king with their daggers reeking with the innocent 
blood of the princess his daughter-in-law. Alonzo, says La Neuf- 
ville, avowed the horrid assassination, as if he had done nothing for 
which he ought to be ashamed. 

Page 90 {g 2). 
" The * Fount of Tears' where love once filled the lowers.''^ 

That remarkable spot is a singular realization of the poet's power to 

" give to airy nothing 

A local habitation and a name." 

The present translator, when a young soldier, heard accidentally, 
while passing through Coimbra, of the " Fonte das Lagrimas," long 
before he had ever read the Lusiad. Seeking it out in a garden which 
had formerly belonged to the neighbouring convent, and guided by a 
little girl to the " Fountain of Tears,'' the solitary spot under the 
shade of very aiicient cedars — excited an interest in the poetry of Ca- 
moens, one of whose stanzas appeared on a stone set up beside the 
Fount. A red encrustation on the stone over which the clear fountain 
flowed from a rock, was pointed out by his little guide, as the blood 
of Inez. This, with the dark shade, the solitude, and the murmur of 
the waters falling, which almost seemed to recite the lines, im- 
pressed him with the sentiment since so eloquently expressed by the 
American writer: "There is a charm about a spot that has been 
printed by the footsteps of departed beauty, and consecrated by the 
inspirations of the poet, which is heightened, rather than impaired, by 
the lapse of ages."* To revisit the scene after the war, when duty 

* Washington Irving. 



290 NOTES. 

again took him near Coimbra, and to make a drawing (the original of 
the engraving), where the fountain and all nature seemed still to mourn 
the death of Inez, was but an attempt to combine art with nature, 
suggested by the harmonious sympathies commemorated there by the 
poet of Portugal. 

Page 91 {h 2). Stanza CXXXVI. 

When the Prince was informed of the death of his beloved Inez, he 
was transported into the most violent fury. He took arms against his 
father. The country between the rivers Minho and Douro was laid 
desolate ; but by the interposition of the Queen and the Archbishop of 
Braga the Prince relented, and the further horrors of a civil war were 
prevented. Don Alonzo was not only reconciled to his son, but la- 
boured by every means to oblige him, and to efface from his memory 
the injury and insult he had received. The Prince, however, still con- 
tinued to discover the strongest marks of affection and grief. When 
he succeeded to the crown, one of his first acts was a treaty with the 
King of Castile, whereby each monarch engaged to give up such mal- 
contents, as should take refuge in each other's dominions. In conse- 
quence of this, Pedro Coello and Alvaro Gonsalez, who, on the death 
of Alonzo, had fled to Castile, were sent prisoners to Don Pedro. 
Diego Paekeco, the third murderer, made his escape. The other two 
were put to death with the most exquisite tortures, and most justly 
merited, if exquisite torture is in any instance to be allowed. After 
this the king, Don Pedro, summoned an assembly of the states at 
Cantanedes. Here, in the presence of the Pope's Nuncio, he solemnly 
swore on the holy Gospels, that having obtained a dispensation from 
Rome, he had secretly, at Braganza, espoused the Lady Inez de Castro, 
in the presence of the Bishop of Guarda, and of his master of the 
wardrobe ; both of whom confirmed the truth of the oath. The 
Pope's Bull, containing the dispensation, was published ; the body of 
Inez was lifted from the grave, was placed on a magnificent throne, 
and with the proper regalia, crowned Queen of Portugal. The nobi- 
lity did homage to her skeleton, and kissed the bones of her hand. 
The corpse was then interred at the royal monastery of Alcoba^a with 
a pomp before unknown in Portugal, and with all the honours due to 
a Queen. Her monument was still extant, with her statue adorned 
with the diadem and the royal robe, when the French armies entered 
Portugal. This, with the legitimation of her children, and the care he 
took of all who had been in her service, consoled him in some degree, 
and rendered him more conversable than he had hitherto been ; but the 
cloud which the death of his Inez brought over the natural cheerfulness 
of his temper was never totally dispersed. A circumstance strongly 
characteristic of the rage of his resentment must not be omitted. When 
the murderers were brought before liim, he was so transported with 
indignation, that he struck Pedro Coello several blows on his face with 
the shaft of a whip. Some grave wi-iters have branded this action as 
unworthy of the magistrate and the hero ; those who will, may add, of 
the philosopher too ; something greater, however, belongs to Don 
Pedro ; a regard which we do not feel for any of the three, will, in 



KOTES. 291 

every bosom, capable of genuine love, inspire a tender sympathy for 
the agonies of his heart, when the presence of the inhuman murderers 
presented to his mind the horrid scene of the butchery of his beloved 
spouse. 

Page 91 {i 2). " Of taking Leonora from her spouse.'* 

This lady, named Leonora de Tellez, was the wife of one of the most 
distinguished noblemen in Portugal. After a sham process this marriage 
was dissolved, and the king privately espoused to her, though at this 
time he was publicly married by proxy to Donna Leonora of Arragon. 
A dangerous insurrection, headed by one Velasquez, a tailor, drove 
the king and the adulterous bride from Lisbon. Soon after he caused 
his marriage to be publicly celebrated in the province of Entre 
Douro e Minho. Henry king of Castile, being informed of the ge- 
neral discontent that reigned in Portugal, marched a formidable army 
into that kingdom, to revenge the injury offered to some of his subjects, 
whose ships had been unjustly seized at Lisbon. The desolation 
hinted at by Camoens ensued. After the subjects of both kingdoms 
had severely suffered, the two kings ended the war, much to their 
mutual satisfaction, by an intermarriage of their bastard children. 



NOTES TO CANTO lY. 



Page 93 (^ 2). " Saying, Dom John is now to be King of the land.^'' 

Don John, son of Pedro the Just, and the beautiful Inezde Castro, 
was by the people esteemed their lawful sovereign, but was, and had 
been long detained a prisoner by the king of Castile. 

Don John L one of the greatest of the Portuguese monarchs^ was the 
natural son of Pedro the Just, by Donna Teresa Lorenza, a Gallician 
lady, and born some years after the death of Inez. The miraculous 
speech of the infant, attested by a few monks, was adapted to the 
superstition of the age of John L, and as he was a bastard, was of in- 
finite service to his cause. 

Page 94 {I 2). " Cast naked in the streets and dashed to pieces." 

Don Martin, bishop of Lisbon, a man of an exemplary life was by 
birth a Castilian, which was esteemed a sufficient reason to murder 
him, as of the Queen's party. He was thrown from the tower of his 
own cathedral, whither he had fled to avoid the popular fury. 

Page 104 (m 2). " In camp, according to custom, in great glory J' 

As a certain proof of the victory, it was required, by the honour of 
these ages, that the victor should encamp three days on the field of 
battle. By this knight-errantry, the advantages which ought to have 
been pursued, were frequently lost ; not so in this case however as 
Nuno was sent forward. 



292 NOTES. 



Page 106 (w 2). Stanza LII. 

The infants Henry and Fernand, at the head of 7000 men, laid siege 
to Tangier, and were surrounded by a numerous army of Moors, some 
writers say six hundred thousand. On condition that the Portuguese 
army should be allowed to return home, the Infants promised to deliver 
Ceuta. The Moors gladly accepted of the terms, but demanded one 
of the Infants as an hostage. Fernand offered himself, and was left. 
The King was willing to comply with the terms to release his brother, 
but the Com-t considered the value of Ceuta, and would not consent. 
The Pope also interposed his authority, that Ceuta should also be 
kept as a check on the infidels, and proposed to raise a crusade for the 
delivery of Fernand. In the meanwhile large oifers were made for his 
liberty. These were rejected by the Moors, who would accept of 
nothing but Ceuta, of whose vast importance they were no strangers. 
When negotiation failed, king Edward assembled a large army to effect 
his brother's release, but just as he was setting out, he was seized with 
the plague, and died, leaving orders with his Queen to deliver up 
Ceuta for the release of his brother. This, however, was never per- 
formed. Don Fernand remained with the Moors till his death ; he is 
to this day esteemed as a Saint and Martyr in Portugal, and his 
memory is commemorated on the fifth of June. 

Page 114 (o 2). *' We proceeded next to prepare our souls for death.^' 

This fact is according to history « ** Aberat Olysippone prope littas 
quatuor passuum millia templum sane religiosum et sanctum ab Hen- 
rico in honorem sanctissimae virginis edificatum In id Gama 

pridie illius diei, quo erat navem conscensurus, se recepit, ut noctem 
cum religiosis hominibus qui in sedibus templo conjunctis habitabant, 
in precibus et votis consumeret. Sequenti die cum multi non illius 
tantum gratia, sed aliorum etiam, qui illi comites erant, convenissent, 
fuit ab omnibus in scaphis deductus. Neque solum homines religiosi, 
sed reliqui omnes voce maxima cum lacrymis a Deo precabantur, ut 
bene et prospere ilia tarn periculosa navigatio omnibus eveniret, et 
universi re bene gesta incolumes in patriam redtrent." 



NOTES TO CANTO Y. 



Page 122 {p 2). ** Was the province ofJalofo, where separate.''^ 
The province of Jalofo lies between the two rivers, the Gambia and 
the Zanago. The latter has other names in the several countries 
through which it runs. In its course it makes many islands, inhabited 
only by wild beasts. It is navigable 150 leagues, at the end of which 
it is crossed by a stupendous ridge of perpendicular rocks, over which 
the liver rushes with such violence, that travellers pass under it without 
any other inconvenience than the prodigious noise. The Gambia^ or 



NOTES. 293 

Rio Grande, runs 180 leagues, but is not so far navigable. It carries 
more water, and runs vdth less noise than the other, though filled with 
many rivers which water the country of Mandiuga. Both rivers are 
branches of the Niger. Their waters have this remarkable quality : 
when mixed together they operate as an emetic, but when separate do 
not. They abound with great variety of fishes, and their banks are 
covered with horses, crocodiles, winged serpents, elephants, ounces, 
wild boars, with great numbers of others, wonderful for the variety 
of their nature and difierent forms. — Faria y Sousa. 

Page 123 {q 2). ^^ Leaving the very rocJcy Sierra Le'da. " 

During the reign of John II. the Portuguese erected several forts, 
and acquired great power in the extensive regions of Guinea. Azam- 
baja, a Portuguese captain, having obtained leave from Caramansa, 
a Negro prince, to erect a fort on his territories, an unlucky accident 
had almost proved fatal to the discoverers. A huge rock lay very com- 
modious for a quarry : the workmen began on it ; but this rock, as 
the devil would have it, happened to be a Negro God. The Portu- 
guese were driven away by the enraged worshippers, who were after- 
wards with difficulty pacified by a profusion of such presents as they 
most esteemed. 

Page 123 (r 2). " The very great kingdom of Congo. ^^ 

The Portuguese having brought an ambassador from Congo to 
Lisbon, sent him back instructed in the faith. By this means the 
King, Queen, and about 100,000 of the people were baptized ; the 
idols were destroyed and churches built. Soon after the Prince, who 
was then absent at war, was baptized by the name of Alonzo. His 
younger brother, Aquitimo, however, would not receive the faith, and 
the father, because allowed only one wife, turned apostate, and left the 
crown to his pagan son, who, with a great army, surrounded Ms 
brother, when only attended by some Portuguese and Christian blacks, 
in all only thirty-seven. By the bravery of these, however, Aquitimo 
was defeated, taken, and slain. One of Aquitimo's officers declared, 
they were not defeated by the thirty -seven Christians, but by a glorious 
army who fought under a shining cross. The idols were again destroyed, 
and Alonzo sent his sons, grandsons, and nephews to Portugal to 
study ; two of whom were afterwards Bishops in Congo. Extracted from 
Faria y Sousa. 

Page 123 («2). ^^ From theivell-hiownpole of CalistOy lost leneath.^^ 

According to fable, Calisto was a nymph of Diana. Jupiter having 
assumed the figure of that goddess, completed his amorous desires. 
On the discovery of her pregnancy, Diana drove her from her train. 
She fled to the woods, where she was delivered of a son. Juno 
changed them into bears, and Jupiter placed them in heaven, where 
they form the constellations of Ursa Major and Minor. Juno, still 
enraged, entreated Thetis never to suffer Calisto to bathe in the sea. 
This is founded on the appearance of the northern pole-star to the in- 



294 :s"OTEg; 

habitants of cur hemisphere ; but when Gama approached the austral 
pole, the northern, of consequence, disappeared under the waves. The 
constellation of the southern pole was called The Ct^oss, by the Portu- 
guese sailors, from the appearance of that figure formed by seven 
stars, four of which are particulai-ly luminous. 

Page 123 (t 2). " As ifivanting stars — or with stars less in view." 

In the southern hemisphere, as Camoens observes, the nights are 
darker than in the northern, the skies being adorned with much fewer 
stars. 

Page 126 (u 2). " A rare and newly -invented instrument." 

The Astrolabium, an instrument of infinite service in navigation, by 
which the altitude of the sun, and distance of the stars, is taken. It 
was invented in Portugal, during the reign of John II., by two Jew 
physicians, named Roderic and Joseph. It is asserted by some that 
they were assisted by Martin of Bohemia, a celebrated mathematician. 
Partly from Castera. Vid. Banos, Dec. 1. 1. 4, c. 2. 

Page 131 (w 2). " Qniloa — Mombaca left undone." 

On the return of Gama to Portugal, a fleet of thirteen sail, under 
the command of Pedro Alvarez Cabral, was sent out on the second 
voyage to India, where the Admiral with only six ships arrived. The rest 
were mostly destroyed by a tex'rible tempest at the Cape of Good Hope, 
which lasted twenty days. The daytime, says Faria, was so dark that 
the sailors could scarcely see each other, or hear what was said for the 
horrid noise of the winds. Among those who perished was the cele- 
brated Bartholomew Diaz, who was the first modern discoverer of the 
Cape of Good Hope, which he named the Cape of Tempests. 

Page 131 {w 2). ^'Another will also come of honoured fame." 

This poetical description of the miserable catastrophe of Don 
Emmanuel de Souza, and his beautiful spouse Leonora de Sa, is by no 
means exaggerated. He was several years governor of Diu in India, 
where he amassed immense wealth. On his return to his native 
country, the ship, in which was his lady, all his riches, and five hun- 
dred men, his sailors and domestics, was dashed to pieces on the rocks 
at the Cape of Good Hope. Don Emmanuel, his lady, and three chil- 
dren, with four hundred of the crew escaped, having only saved a few 
arms and provisions. As they marched through the wild uncultivated 
deserts, some died of famine, of thirst and fatigue ; others, who wan- 
dered from the main body in search of water, were murdered by the 
savages, or destroyed by the wild beasts. They arrived at last at a 
village inhabited by Ethiopian banditti. At first they were courteously 
received, but the barbarians, having unexpectedly seized their arms, 
stripped the whole cumpany naked, and left them destitute to the 
mercy of the desert. The wretchedness of the dehcate and exposed 
Leonora was increased by the brutal insults of the negroes. Her 



jfOTEs. 295 

husband, unable to relieve, beheld her miseries. After having tra- 
velled about 300 leagues, her legs swelled, her feet bleeding at e\'ery 
step, and her strength exhausted, she sunk down, and with the sand 
covered herself to the neck, to conceal her nakedness. In this dread- 
ful situation, she beheld two of her children expire. Her own death 
soon followed. Her husband, who had been long enamoured of her 
beauty, received her last breath in a distracted embrace. Immediately 
he snatched his third child in his arms, and uttering the most lament- 
able cries, he ran into the thickest of the wood, where the wild beasts 
were soon heard to growl over their prey. Of the whole four hundred 
who escaped the waves, only six-and-twenty arrived at another 
Ethiopian village, whose inhabitants were more civilised, and traded 
with the merchants of the Red Sea, from whence they found a passage 
to Europe, and brought the tidings of the unhappy fate of then' com- 
panions. Jerome de Cortereal, a Portuguese poet, has written an 
affecting poem on the shipwreck and deplorable catastrophe of Doit 
Emmanuel and his beloved spouse. — Partly from Castera. 

Page 138 [x 2). Stanza LXXIL 

It had been exti'emely impolitic in Gama to mention the mutiny of 
his followers to the king of Melinda. The boast of their loyalty besides, 
has a good eflfect in the poem, as it elevates the heroes, and gives uni- 
formity to the character of bravery, which the dignity of the Epopea 
required to be ascribed to them. History relates the matter differently. 
In standing for the Cape of Good Hope, Gama gave the proofs of his 
resolution, '■' In illo autem cursu valde Games virtus mltuit." The 
fleet seemed now tossed to the clouds, tit modo nubes contingere, and 
now sunk to the lowest whMpools of the abyss. The winds were in- 
sufferably cold, and to the rage of the tempest was added the horror 
of an almost continual darkness. The crew expected every moment 
to be swallowed up in the deep. At every interval of the storm, they 
came round Gama, asserting the impossibility to proceed farther, and 
imploring to return; this he resolutely refused. A conspiracy against 
his life was formed, but was discovered by his brother. He guarded 
against it with the greatest courage and prudence ; he put all the pilots 
in chains, and he himself, with some others, took the management of 
the helms. At last, after having for many days withstood the tempest, 
and a perfidious combination, invicto animo, with an unconquered 
mind, a favourable change of weather revived the spmts of the fleet, 
and allowed them to double the Cape of Good Hope. — Extr. from 
Osor. 

Page 139 {y 2). '* A people of a colour like themselves." 

When Gama arrived in the East, a considerable commerce was 
carried on between the Indies and the Red Sea by the Moorish traders, 
by whom the gold mines of Sofala, and the riches of the Oriental or 
Ethiopia coast of Africa were enjoyed. The traffic of the East was, 
by land, brought to Grand Cairo, from whence Europe was supplied 
by the Venetian and Antwerpian merchants. 



296 NOTES. 

Page 139 (2 2). *' We raised upon that land a monument there.'* 

It was tlie custom of tlie Portuguese navigators to erect crosses on 
the shores of the new-discovered countries. Gama carried materials 
for pillars of stone along with him, and erected six of these crosses 
during his expedition. They bore the name and arms of the king of 
Portugal, and were intended as proofs of the title which accrues from 
the first discovery. 



NOTES TO CANTO VI. 

Page 1 4 6 (a 3 ) . " WitJi fruits, fowls, flesh, and very curious fishes. ' ' 

Every display of eastern luxury and magnificence was lavished in the 
fishing parties on the Nile, with which Cleopatra amused Mark Antony, 
when at any time he showed symptoms of uneasiness, or seemed in- 
clined to abandon the effeminate life which he led with his mistress. 
At one of these parties Mark Antony, having procured divers to put 
fishes on his hooks while under the water, he very gallantly boasted to 
his mistress of his great dexterity in angling. Cleopatra perceived his 
art, and as gallantly outwitted him. Some other divers received her 
orders, and in a little while Mark Antony's line brought up a fried fish 
in place of a live one, to the vast entertainment of the queen and 
all the convivial company. Octavius was at this time on his march to 
decide who should be master of the world. 

Page 147 (5 3). " To a Jcing so good, and a people so suhlime,'* 

The friendship of the Portuguese and Melindians was of long con- 
tinuance, Alvaro Cabral, the second admiral who made the voyage to 
India, in an engagement with the Moors off the coast of Sofala, took 
two ships richly freighted from the mines of that country. On find- 
ing that Xeques Fonteyma, the commander, was uncle to the king of 
Melinda, he restored the valuable prize, and treated him with the 
utmost courtesy. Their good offices were reciprocal. By the inform- 
ation of the king of Melinda, Cabral escaped the treachery of the king 
of Calecut. The kings of Mombaze and Quiloa, irritated at the alli- 
ance with Portugal, made several depredations on the subjects of 
Melinda, who in return were effectually revenged by their European 
allies. 

Page 151 (c 3). *' She who from the fury of Athamas when flying'* 

Ino, the daughter of Cadmus and Hermione, and second spouse of 
Athamas, king of Thebes. The fables of her fate are various. That 
which Camoens follows is the most common. Athamas, seized with mad- 
ness, imagined that his sponse was a lioness, and her two sons young 
lions. In this frenzy he slew Learchus, and drove the mother and her 



NOTES. 297 

other son Melicertus into the sea. The corpse of the mother was 
thrown ashore on Megaria, and that of the son at Corinth. They 
were afterwards deified, the one as a sea goddess, the other as the god 
of harbours. 

Page 1 52 (d 3). ** And the god who was at one time a human lody^ 

A fisherman, says the fable, who, on eating a certain herb, was 
turned into a sea god. Circe was enamoured of him, and in revenge 
of her slighted love, poisoned the fountain where his mistress usually 
bathed. By the force of the enchantment the favoured Scylla was 
changed into a hideous monster, whose loins were surrounded with the 
ever barking heads of dogs and wolves. Scylla, on this, threw herself 
into the sea, and was metamorphosed into the rock which bears her 
name. The rock Scylla, at a distance, appears like the statue of a 
woman ; the furious dashing of the waves in the cavities which are 
level with the water, resembles the barking of wolves and dogs. Hence 
the fable. 

Page 158 (e 3). " There in the land IhermnP 

John of Gaunt, duke of Lancaster, claimed the crown of Castile, 
in the right of his wife. Donna Constantia, daughter of Don Pedro^ 
the late king. Assisted by his son-in-law, John I. of Portugal, he 
entered Galicia, and was proclaimed king of Castile at the city of St. 
Jago de Compostella. He afterwards relinquished his pretensions on 
the marriage of his daughter Catalina with the Infant Don Henry of 
Castile. 

Page 159 (/3). Stanza LIIL 

Castera, who unhappily does not cite his authority, gives the names 
of the twelve Portuguese champions ; Alvaro Vaz d'Almada, after- 
wards Count d'Avranches in Normandy ; another, Alvaro d'Almada, 
surnamed the Juster, from his dexterity at that warlike exercise ; 
Lopez Fernando Pacheco ; Pedro Homen d'Acosta ; Juan Augustin 
Pereyra ; Luis Gonsalez de Malafay ; the two brothers Alvaro and 
Rodrigo Mendez de Cerveyra ; Ruy Gomez de Sylva ; Soneyra de 
Acosta, who gave his name to the river Acosta in Africa ; Martin 
Lopez d'Azevedo ; and Alvaro Gonsalez de Contigno, surnamed 
Magricio. The names of the English champions, and of the ladies, 
be confesses are unknown, nor does history positively explain the 
injury of which the dames complained. It must, however, he adds, 
have been such as required the atonement of blood ; ilfallait qu'elle 
fut sanglante, since two sovereigns allowed to determine it by the 
sword. "Some critics," says Castera, " may perhaps condemn this 
episode of Camoens ; but for my part (he continues) I think the ad- 
venture of Olindo and Sophronia, in Tasso, is much more to be 
blamed. The episode of the Italian poet is totally exuberant, est tout- 
a-f ait pastiche, whereas that of the Portuguese has a direct I'elation to 
his proposed subject ; the wars of his country, a vast field, in which he 
has admirably succeeded without prejudice to the first rule of the 

o 2 



298 NOTES. 

epopea, the unity of the action." To this may be added the suffrage 
of Voltaire, who acknowledges that Camoens artfully interweaves the 
history of Portugal. 

Page 163 (p" 3). ** The Countess of Flanders in a similar feat.'* 

The Princess for whom Magricio signalized his valour, was Isabella 
of Portugal, and spouse of Philip the Good, Duke of Burgundy, and 
Earl of Flanders. Some Spanish chronicles relate, that Charles VII. 
of France, having assembled the states of his kingdom, cited Philip to 
appear with his other vassals. Isabella, who was present, solemnly 
protested that the Earls of Flanders were not obliged to do homage, 
A dispute arose, on which she offered, according to the custom of 
that age, to appeal to the fate of arms. The proposal was accepted, 
and Magricio, the champion of Isabella, vanquished a French cheva- 
lier appointed by Charles. Though our authors do not mention this 
adventure, and though Emmanuel de Faria, and the best Portuguese 
writers treat it with doubt, nothing to the disadvantage of Camoens is 
thence to be inferred. A poet is not obliged always to follow the 
truth of history. 

Page 163 {h 3). ** Of Torquatus, and Corvinus, befel him there." 

Valerius Maximus, a Roman tribune, who fought and slew a Gaul 
of enormous stature, in single combat. During the duel a raven perched 
on the helm of his antagonist, sometimes pecked his face and hand, and 
sometimes blinded him with the flapping of his wings. The victor was 
thence named Corvinus. Vid. Liv. 1. 7. c. 26. 

Page 165 {i 3). ** The Haley onian Mrds sad chorus keeping.'* 

Ceyx, king of Ibracinia, son of Lucifer, married Alcyone, the daugh- 
ter of Eolus. On a voyage to consult the Delphic oracle he was ship- 
wrecked. His corpse was thrown ashore in the view of his spouse, 
who in the agonies of her love and despair, threw herself into the sea. 
The gods, in pity of her pious fidelity, metamorphosed them into the 
birds which bear her name. The Halcyon is a little bird about the size 
of a thrush, its plumage of a beautiful slcy blue, mixed with some traits 
of white and carnation. It is vulgarly called the King or Martin Fisher. 
The Halcyons very seldom appear but in the finest weather, whence 
they are fabled to build their nests on the waves. The female is no 
less remarkable than the turtle, for her conjugal affection. She 
nourishes and attends the male when sick, and survives his death but 
a few days. When the Halcyons are surprised in the tempest, they fly 
about as in the utmost terror, with the most lamentable and doleful 



2iOTES. 299 



NOTES TO CA^'TO YII. 

Page 172 {k 3). " *' But sovereignty from off its shoulders throwing '" 

The Constitution of Germany, observes Puffendorf, may be said to 
verify tlie fable of the Hydra, with this difference, that the heads of 
tlie German State bite and devour each other. At the time when 
Camoens wrote, the German empire was plunged into all the miseries 
of a religious war, the Catholics using every endeavour to rivet the 
chains of Popery, the adherents of Luther as strenuously endeavouring 
to shake them off. 

Page 172 {I 3). ^' King of the ancient and most holy city.^' 

This is a mistake. The title of King of Jerusalem was never assumed 
by the kings of England. Robert Duke of Normandy, son of William 
the Conqueror, was elected king of Jerusalem by the army in Syria, 
but declined it in the hope of ascending the throne of England, which 
attempt was defeated. Regnier Count d'Anjou, father of Margaret, 
queen of Henry VI. was flattered with the mock royalty of Naples, 
Cyprus, and Jerusalem, his armorial bearing for the latter, Luna, a 
cross potent, between four crosses, sol. Henry VIII. filled the throne 
of England when our author wrote ; his Gothic luxury and conjugal 
brutality amply deserved the censure of the honest poet. 

Page 172 (?w3). 

** But rather to he against her, and throw her down." 

The French translator very cordially sgrees with the Portuguese 
poet in the strictures upon Germany, England, and Italy. But when 
his own country is touched upon, "Malgre Vestime," says he, " que fai 
•pour mon auteur.je ne craindrai pas de dire qu'il tomhe ici dans tme 
grande injustice." ^' For all the regard I have for my author, I will 
not hesitate to say, that here he has committed an enormous injustice." 
All Europe besides, however, will witness the truth of the assertion, 
which stigmatizes the French politics [of that day] with the lust of ex- 
tending their monarchy. 

Page 173 {n 3). ^'Are ye the teeth of Cadmus, broadcast sown ?" 

Cadmus, having slain the dragon which guarded the fountain of 
Dirce in Boeotia, sowed the teeth of the monster. A number of armed 
men immediately sprung up and surrounded Cadmus in order to kill 
him. By the counsel of Minerva he threw a precious stone amongst 
them, in striving for which they slew one another. Only five survived, 
who afterwards assisted him to build the city of Thebes. Vid. Ovid. 
Met. IV. 



300 IfOTES. 

Page 174 (o 3). Stanza XIII. 

By this barbarous policy, the tyranny of the Ottomans has been 
long sustained. The troops of the Turkish infantry and cavaby, known 
by the name of Janisaries and Spahis, were thus supported ; and the 
scribes in office called Mufti, says Sandys, " are the sons of Christians 
(and those the most completely furnished by nature) taken in their 
childhood from their miserable parents by a levy made every five years, 
or oftener or more seldom, as occasion requireth." 

Page 176 (j3 3). ** Hope from the Ganges waters resonant.''^ 

Almost all the Indian nations attribute to the Ganges the virtue of 
cleansing the soul from the stains of sin. They have such veneration 
for this river, that if any one in their presence were to throw any filth 
into the stream, an instant death would punish his audacity. As 
St. Thomas preached the faith in the East, it is probable that these 
ablutions are a gross imitation of that baptism which he published. — 
Cast era. 

Page 177 {q 3). " As one who well the Spanish language Jcnew.'* 

This is according to the truth of history. While the messenger sent 
ashore by Gama was borne here and there, and carried off his feet by 
the throng, who understood not a word of his language, he was accosted 
in Spanish by a T\icorish merchant, a native of Tunis, who, according 
to Osorius, had been the chief person with whom king Ferdinand had 
formerly contracted for military stores. He proved himself an honest 
agent, and of infinite service to Gama, with whom he returned to Por- 
tugal, where, according to Faria, he died in the Christian communion. 
He was named Monzaida. 

Page 178 {r 3). ** As in Rhodope the lover his ear applied.'^ 

The well-known fable of the descent of Orpheus to hell, and the 
second loss of his wife, is thus explained, Aedoneus, king of Thes- 
protia, whose cruelty procured him the name of Pluto, tyrant of hell, 
having seized Eurydice, as she fled from his friend Aristi3eus, detained 
her as a captive. Orpheus, having charmed the tyrant with his music, 
bis wife was restored, on condition that he should not look upon her 
till he had conducted her out of Thesprotia. Orpheus, on his journey, 
forfeited the condition, and irrecoverably lost his spouse. 

Page 180 {s 3). " With thousand ceremonies they wash and purify ^ 

As these tribes never intermarry, India may properly be said to con- 
tain four different nations. They will neither eat together, nor drink 
out of the same vessel. If they trespass in these or many other similar 
points, they are held as polluted, rejected from their tribe, and are 
obliged to herd with a despised crew, called the Hallachores, who are 
the lowest of the community, the rabble of India. 



NOTES. 301 

Page 184 {i 3). 
" She must have truly called it her son^s own simile.'^ 

The Theban Bacchus, to whom the Greek fabuh'sts ascribed the 
Indian expedition of Sesostris or Osiris, king of Egypt, 

Page 184 {u 3). ''Brutal incontinence, abominable amour /" 

The infamous passion of Semiramis for a horse, has all the air of a 
fable invented by the Greeks to signify the extreme libidiny of that 
queen. Her incestuous passion for her son Nynias, however, is con- 
firmed by the testimony of the best authors. Shocked at such a 
horrid amour, Nynias ordered her to be put to death. — Castera. 

Page 187 (w 3). Stanza LX to LXV. 

The tenor of this first conversation between the Samorim and Gama, 
is according to the truth of history. 

Page 190 {w 3). " 1 have been such long time singing.^* 

Though Camoens began his Lusiad in Portugal, almost the whole of 
it was written while on the ocean, while in Africa, and in India. 

Page 191 {x 3). 
" And with such hard lot they left me discontented.^^ 

Alludes to his fortunes in India. The latter circumstance relates 
particularly to the base and inhuman treatment he received on his 
return to Goa, after his unhappy shipwreck. 



NOTES TO CANTO YIII. 



Page 196 (y 3). <' Egas Moniz- 



Though history affords no authentic document of this transaction, 
tradition, the poet's authority, is not silent. And the monument of 
Egaz, in the monastery of Pa^o de Souza, gives it countenance. Egaz 
and his family are there represented, in bas-relief, in the attitude and 
garb, says Castera, as described by Camoens. 

Page 197 (yy). Stanza XVII. 

The alcaydes, or tributary governors under the Miramolin, or Em- 
peror of Morocco, are often by the Spanish and Portuguese writers 
styled kings. He who was surprised and taken prisoner by Don Fuaz 
Roupinho was named Gama. Fuaz, after having gained the first naval 
victory of the Portuguese, also experienced their first defeat. With 
one-and-twenty sail he attacked fifty-four large gallies of the Moors. 
The sea, says Brandan, which had lately furnished him with trophies, 
now supplied him with a tomb. 



302 MDTES. 



Page 198 {z 3). " Geraldo Sem-pavor.^^ 

He was a man of rank, who, in order to avoid the legal punishment 
to which several crimes rendered him obnoxious, put himself at the 
head of a party of freebooters. Tiring, however, of that life, he re- 
solved to reconcile himself to his sovereign by some noble action. 
Full of this idea, one evening he entered Evora, which then belonged 
to the Moors. In the night he killed the sentinels of one of the gates, 
which he opened to his companions, who soon became masters of the 
place. This exploit had its desired effect. The king pardoned Ger- 
rald, and made him governor of Evora. A knight, with a sword in 
one hand and two heads in the other, from that time became the 
armorial bearing of the city. — Castera. 

Page 198 (a 4). Note to Stanza XXII. 

Don Pedro Fernandro de Castro, injured by the family of Lara, and 
denied redress by the king of Castile, took the infamous revenge of 
bearing arms against his native country. At the head of a Moorish 
army he committed several outrages in Spain ; but was totally defeated 
in Portugal. 

Page 198 {b 4). Stanza XXIII. 

According to some ancient Portuguese histories, Don Matthew, 
bishop of Lisbon, in the reign of Alonzo L, attempted to reduce 
Alcazar, then in possession of the Moors. His troops being suddenly 
surrounded by a numerous party of the enemy, were ready to fly, 
when, at the prayers of the bishop, a venerable old man, clothed in 
white, with a red cross on his breast, appeared in the air. The miracle 
dispelled the fears of the Portuguese ; the Moors were defeated, and 
the conquest of Alcazar crowned the victory. — Castera. 

Page 199 (c 4). " the death of seven Cagadores." 

During a truce with the Moors, six cavaliers of the order of St. 
Jago were, while on a hunting-party, surrounded and killed by a 
numerous body of the Moors. During the fight, in which the gentle- 
men sold their lives dear, a common carter, named Garcias Rodrigo, 
who chanced to pass that way, came generously to their assistance, and 
lost his life along with them. The poet, in giving all seven the same 
title, shows us that virtue constitutes true nobility. Don Payo de 
Correa, grand master of the order of Santiago, revenged the death 
of these brave unfortunates, by the sack of Tavila, where his just rage 
put the garrison to the sword. — Castera. 

Page 199 {d 4). " Whom the principal of the three to fight defies.^^ 

Nothing can give us a stronger picture of the romantic character of 
their age, than the manners of these champions, who were gentlemen 
of birth ; and who, in the true spirit of knight-errantry, wi^nt about 
from court to court in quest of adventures. Their names were, Gon- 
9alo Ribeiro ; Fernando Martinez de Santarene ; and Vasco Anez, 



NOTES. 303 

foster-brother to Mary, queen of Castile, daughter of Alonzo VI. of 
Portugal. 

Page 201 (e 4). " By name Pedro Rodriguez of the Landroal.'* 

Before John T. mounted the throne of Portugal, one Vasco Por- 
callo, was governor of Villa- Vi90sa. Roderic de Landroal, and his 
friend Alvarez Cuytado, having discovered that he was in the interest 
of the king of Castile, drove him from his town and fortress. On the 
establishment of King John, Porcallo had the art to obtain the favour 
of that prince, but no sooner was he reinstated in the garrison, than he 
delivered it up to the Castilians ; and plundered the house of Cuytado, 
whom, with his wife, he made prisoner ; and under a numerous party, 
ordered to be sent to Olivenga. Roderic de Landroal, hearing of this, 
attacked and defeated the escort, and set his friend at liberty. — Caitera. 

Page 201 (/4). '' Rui Pereira." 

A numerous fleet of the Castilians being on their way to lay siege to 
Lisbon, Ruy Pereyra, the Portuguese commander, seeing no possibility 
of victory, boldly attacked the Spanish admiral. The fury of his onset 
put the Castilians in disorder, and allowed the Portuguese galleys a 
safe escape. In this brave piece of service the gallant Pereyra lost his 
life. — Castera. 

Page 201 {g 4). '^ - these seventeen Lusitanians," 

The Castilians having laid siege to Almada, a fortress on a 
mountain iiear Lisbon, the garrison, in the utmost distress for water, 
were obliged at times to make sallies to the bottom of the hill in quest 
of it. Seventeen Portuguese, thus employed, were one day attacked 
by four hundred of the enemy. They made a brave defence, and happy 
retreatj into the fortress. — Castera. 

Page 202 (7^ 4). " The Count Dom Pedro " 

When Alonzo V. took Ceuta, Don Pedro de Menezes, was the only 
officer in the army who was willing to become governor of that fortress ; 
which, on account of the uncertainty of succour from Portugal, and 
the earnest desire of the Moors to regain it, was deemed untenable. 
He gallantly defended his post in two severe sieges. 

Page 202 (i 4). " another Count " 

He was the natural son of Don Pedro de Menezes. Alonzo V. one 
day having rode out from Ceuta with a few attendants was attacked by 
a numerous party of the Moors, when De Vian, and some others under 
him, at the expense of their own lives, purchased the safe retreat of 
their sovereign. 

Page 208 (H 4). " What valuable present with thee for me comes." 

As the Portuguese did not expect to find any people but savages be- 
yond the Cape of Good Hope, they only brought with them some pre- 
serves and confections, with trinkets of coral, of glass, and other 



304 NOTES. 

trifles. This opinion however deceived them. la Melinda and in 
Calecut they found civilized nations, where the arts flourished ; who 
wanted nothing ; who were possessed of all the refinements and 
delicacies on which we value ourselves. The king of Melinda had the 
generosity to be contented with the present which Gama made : but 
the Samorim, with a disdainful eye, beheld the gifts which were offered 
to him. The present was thus : 

Four mantles of scarlet, six hats adorned with feathers, four chaplets 
of coral beads, twelve Turkey carpets, seven drinking cups of bi-ass, 
a chest of sugar, two barrels of oil, and two of honey. — Caster a. 



NOTES TO CANTO IX. 

Page 231 [I 4). 

" when Latona there brought to light, 

Bright Phcehus and the Goddess used to the chase. '^ 

Latona, in pregnancy by Jupiter, was persecuted by Juno, who sent 
the serpent Python in pursuit of her. Neptune, in pity of her distress, 
raised the island of Delos for her refuge, where she v/as delivered of 
Apollo and Diana. — Ovid. Met. 

Page 231 (m 4). '' The limpid waters met and joined in one." 

As the departure of Gama from India was abrupt he put into one of 
the beautiful islands of Anchediva for fresh water. Castera attributes 
to this incident, the poet's creation, " The Portuguese actually found 
in this island," says he, " a fine piece of water ornamented with hewn 
stones and magnificent aqueducts ; an ancient and superb work, of 
which nobody knew the author." In 1505 Don Francisco Almeyda 
built a fort in this island. In digging among some ancient ruins he 
found many crucifixes of black and red colour, from whence the Portu- 
guese conjectured, says Osorius, that the Anchedivian islands had in 
former ages been inhabited by Christians. — Vid. Osor. L. iv. 

Page 240 (m* 4), ** These are the joys of Venus' island yonder ." 

A paradise, we may observe, not very unlike that promised to the 
followers of Mahomet. That extremes should meet at this point is 
rather curiously complimentary to the fair. — In the words of a modern 
song — 

** Such raptures hang upon her lips, 
Such sunbeams dance abovit her, 
Man dreams of heaven, whene'er he sips. 
And fancies none without her." Malvina. 

Let modern morality disapprove or condemn — after it shall have 
duly considered the overgrown fortunes and insipid lives of the modern 
rich ; the miseries of the starving poor ; the mother immolating her- 



NOTES. 305 

self and child, from want of food or protection. Let them reflect that 
to woman we owe whatever dignifies and refines, — yet that she of all 
is most subject to ill-treatment and distress : how she ministered unto 
Him who suffered for us all — and that she is the next precious gift to 
sinful man : then, perhaps, they may admit that the allegorical reward 
of great deeds imagined by the knightly poet is at least founded on the 
best affections of human nature. 



NOTES TO CANTO X. 

Page 244 (n 4). " Holds highest sacerdotal dignity/.'* 

P. Alvarez Cabral, the second Portuguese Commander who sailed 
to India, entered into a treaty of alliance with Trimumpara king of 
Cochin, and high priest of Malabar. The Samorim raised powerful 
armies to dethrone him. His fidelity to the Portuguese was unalter- 
able, though his affairs were brought to the lowest ebb. 

Page 247 (o 4). ^' Nor young Hor alius Codes the Ausonian.'* 

When Porsenna besieged Rome, Horatius Codes defended the pass 
of a bridge till the Romans destroyed it behind him. Having thus 
saved the pass, heavy armed as he was, he swam across the river to 
his companions. The Roman history, however, at this period, is often 
mixt with fable. Miltiades obtained a great victory over Darius at 
Marathon. The stand of Leonidas is well known. The battles of 
Pacheco were in defence of the forts by which the city of Cochin 
could only be entered. The numbers he withstood by land and sea, 
and the victories he obtained are much more astonishing than the 
stand at Thermopylae. 

Page 252 (p 4). Stanza XL. 

Some writers relate, that when Albuquerque besieged Ormuz, a 
violent wind drove the arrows of the enemy backward upon their own 
ranks. Osorius says, " that many of the dead Persians and Moors 
were found to have died by arrows." But as that weapon was not used 
by the Portuguese, he conjectures, *' that in their despair of victory 
many of the enemy had thus killed themselves, rather than survive the 
defeat." 

Page 252 (q 4). ** He shall take the most illustrious Isle of Goa." 

This important place was made an Archbishopric, the capital of the 
Portuguese empire in the East, and the seat of their Viceroys ; for 
which purpose it is advantageously situated on the coast of Deccan. 
It still remains in the possession of the Portuguese. 



306 . 2fOTES. 



Page 253 (r 4). " Opulent Malacca hoivever much renowned.^* 

The conquest of this place was one of the greatest actions of Albu- 
querque. It became the chief portof the easternpart of Portuguese India, 
and second only to Goa. Besides a great many pieces of ordnance which 
were carriedawayby the Moors who escaped, 3000 large cannon remained 
the prize of the victors. "When Albuquerque was on the way to 
Malacca, he attacked a large ship, but just as his men were going to 
board her, she suddenly appeared all in flames, which obhged the 
Portuguese to bear off. Three days afterwards the same vessel sent 
a boat to Albuquerque offering an alliance, which was accepted. *' The 
flames," says Osorius, " were only artiticial, and did not the least 
damage." Another wonderful adventure immediately happened. 
H he admiral soon after sent his longboats to attack a ship commanded 
b y one Nehoada Beeguea. The enemy made an obstinate resistance. 
Nehoada himself was pierced with several mortal wounds, but lost not 
one drop of blood, till a bracelet was taken off his arm, when immedi- 
ately the blood gushed out. According to Osorius, this was said to be 
occasioned by the virtue of a stone in the bracelet taken out of an 
animal called Cabrisia, which, when worn on the body, could prevent 
the effusion of blood from the most grievous wounds. 

Page 253 [s 4). " Than he their rigorous judg6 to do them harm.^^ 

Faria says, * ' He ordered a soldier to be hanged for an amour with 
one of the slaves whom he called daughters, and whom he used to 
give in marriage. When some of his officers asked him what authority he 
had to take the poor man's life, he drew his sword, told them that was his 
commission, and instantly broke them." To marry his soldiers with 
the natives was the plan of Albuquerque, his severity therefore seems 
unaccountable, unless we admit the perhaps of Camoens, ou de cioso, 
perhaps it was jealousy. But whatever incensed the General, the exe- 
cution of the soldier was contraiy to the laws of every nation ; and 
the honest indignation of Camoens against one of the greatest of his 
countrymen, one who was the grand architect of the Portuguese 
empire in the East, affords a noble instance of that manly freedom of 
sentiment which knows no right by which king or peer may do in- 
justice to the meanest subject. 

Page 254 (t 4). Stanza XLVIII. 

Campaspe, the most beautiful concubine of Alexander, was given 
by that monarch to Apelles, whom he perceived in love with her. 
Araspas had strict charge of the fair captive Panthea. His attempt on 
her virtue was forgiven by Cyrus. 

Page 254 {u 4). Stanza XLIX. 

Baldwin, surnamed Iron-arm, Grand Forester of Flanders, being 
in love with Judith, the daughter of Charles the Bald and widow of 
Ethelwolfe, king of England, obtained his desire by force. Charles, 



I^OTES. 307 

though at first he highly resented, afterwards pfirdoned his crimen and 
consented to his marriage with the Princess.— Cas^era. 

Page 254 {v 4), *' MaJce abominable Medina fear him then.'^ 

Medina, the city where Mohammed is buried. About six years' after 
Gama's discovery of India, the Sultan of Egypt sent Maurus, the abbot 
of the monks at Jerusalem, who inhabit Mount Sion, on an embassy to 
Pope Julius II. The Sultan, with severe threats to the Christians of the 
East in case of refusal, entreated the Pope to desire Emmanuel King of 
Portugal to send no more fleets to the Indian seas. The Pope sent 
Maurus to Emmanuel, who returned a very spirited answer to his 
Holiness, assuring him that no threats, no dangers, could make him 
alter his resolutions, and lamenting that it had not yet been in his 
power to fulfil his purpose of demolishing the sepulchre and erazing 
the memorials of Mohammed from the earth. This, he says, was the 
first purpose of sending his fleets to India. Nobis enim, cum iter in 
Indiam classibus nostris aperire, et regiones majoribus nostris incog- 
nitas explorare decrevimas, hoc propositum fuit, ut ipsum Mahu- 
metanse, sectse caput extingueremus. 

Page 255 [w 4). '* When SJiebd's splendour did her queen array. ^^ 

The Abyssinians contend that their country is the Sheba mentioned 
in the Scripture, and that the queen who visited Solomon bore a son 
to that monarch, from whom their royal family, to the present time, is 
descended. 

Page 255 {x 4). '* Another Menezes^ afterwards better known.'^ 

Don Henry de Menezes. He was only twenty-eight when appointed 
to the government of India. He died in his thirtieth year, a noble 
example of the most disinterested heroism. 

Page 256 (y 4). " 0, Mascarenhas brave P' 

Pedro de Mascarenhas. The injustice done to this brave officer, 
and the usurpation of his governmentship by Lopez Vaz de Sampayo, 
afford one of the most interesting periods of the history of the Portu- 
guese in India. 

Page 260 (z 4). ^' Nor better shall Hydal Kaun be able to shield." 

The title of the Lords or Princes of Deccan, who in their wars with 
the Portuguese have sometimes brought 400,000 men into the field. 
The prince here mentioned, after many revolts, was at last finally sub- 
dued by Don John de Castro, the fourth Viceroy of India, with whose 
reign our poet judiciously ends the prophetic song. Albuquerque laid 
the plan, and Castro completed the system of the Portuguese empire 
in the East. 



308 I^-OTES. 

Page 261 (a 5). *'0/* various orbs, the Rod divine achieved." 

The new system is so well known, that a poetical description of it 
would have been no novelty to the English reader. The other has 
not only that advantage in its favour ; but this description is perhaps 
the finest and fullest that ever was given of it in poetry ; that of Lu- 
cretius, 1. 5, being chiefly argumentative, and therefore less pictu- 
resque. 

Our author studied at the university of Coimbra, where the ancient 
system and other doctrines of the Aristotelians then, and long after- 
wards, prevailed. 

Page 262 (5 5). Stanza LXXXII. 

According to the Peripatetics, the universe consisted of eleven 
spheres inclosed within each other. In their accounts of this first 
mentioned, but eleventh sphere, which they called the Empyrean or 
heaven of the blest, the disciples of Aristotle, and the Arab Moors, 
gave a loose to all the warmth of imagination. And several of the 
Christian Fathers applied to it the descriptions of heaven which are 
found in the Holy Scripture. 

Page 265 (c 5). " To convert to his holy faith the savage pack." 

Gonsalo de Sylveyra, a Portuguese Jesuit, in 1555 sailed from 
Lisbon on a mission to Monomotapa. His labours were at first suc- 
cessful ; but ere he effected any regular establishment he was murdered 
by the barbarians. — Cast era abridged. 

Page 265 {d 5). " Which Naia with a few so stoutly shall maintain." 

Don Pedro de Naya In 1505 he erected a fort in the king- 
dom of Sofala, which is subject to Monomotapa. Six thousand 
Moors and Cafres laid siege to this garrison, whicla he defended with 
only thirty-five men. After having several times suffered by unex- 
pected sallies, the barbarians fled, exclaiming to their king that hs had 
led them to fight against God. — Castera abridged. 

Page 265 (e 5). " The Abyssinian towns which Jesus own" 

Christianity was planted here in the first century, but mixed with 
many Jewish rites unused by other Christians of the East. This 
appears to give some countenance to the pretensions of their emperors 
who claim their descent from Solomon and the Queen of Sheba, and 
at least reminds us of Acts viii. 27, where we are told, that the Trea- 
surer of the Queen of Ethiopia came to worship at Jerusalem. 
Innumerable monasteries, we are told, are in this country. But the 
clergy are very ignorant, and the laity gross barbarians. Much has 
been said of the hill Amara — 

*' Where Abyssin kings their issue guard — by some supposed 

True paradise, under the Ethiop line, 

By Nilus head, inclosed with shining rock, 

A whole day's journey high." — Milton. 



liroTES. 809 



266 (/5). " But in his success a final evil lurJcsJ^ 

When Don Stephen de Gama was Governor of India, the Christian 
Emperor and Empress -mother of Ethiopia, solicited the assistance of 
the Portuguese against the usurpations of the Pagan king Zeyla. 
Don Stephen sent his brother Don Christoval with 500 men. The 
prodigies of their valour astonished the Ethiopians. But after having 
twice defeated the tyrant, and reduced his great army to the last ex- 
tremity, Don Christoval, urged too far by the impetuosity of his youth- 
ful valour, was taken prisoner. He was brought before the usurper, 
and put to death in the most cruel manner. Waxed threads were 
twisted with his beard and afterwards set on fire. He was then dipped 
in boiling wax, and at last beheaded by the hand of the tyrant. The 
Portuguese esteem him a martyr, and say that his torments and 
death were inflicted because he would not renounce the faith. — See 
Faria y Sous . 

Page 267 {g 5). " When Castel-Branco there his sivord unsheathes.'' 

Don Pedro de Castel-Branco. He obtained a great victory, near 
Ormuz, over the combined fleets of the Moors, Turks, and Persians. 

Page 267 iji 5). " Behold the isle of Bar em, whose deep store." 

The island of Barem is situated in the Persian Gulph, near the 
influx of the Euphrates and Tigris. It is celebrated for the plenty, 
variety^ and fineness of its diamonds. 

Page 267 {i 5). " And prefer the use of armour rather than guns." 

This was the character of the Persians when Gama arrived in the 
East. Yet though they thought it dishonourable to use the musket, 
they esteemed it no disgrace to rush from a thicket on an unarmed 
foe. This reminds one of the spirit of the old romance. Orlando 
having taken the first invented cannon from the King of Friza, throws 
it into the sea with the most heroic execrations. Yet the heroes of 
chivalry think it no disgrace to take every advantage afforded by invul- 
nerable hides, and enchanted armour. 

Page 267 {k 5). 

" That whether the city Armaza ever stood there 
Or not, Gerum did its name and glory share." 

Presuming on the ruins which are found on this island, the natives 
pretend that the Armuzia of Pliny and Strabo was here situated. But 
this is a mistake, for that city stood on the continent. The Moors, 
however, have built a city in this isle, which they call by the ancient 
name. 



310 XOTES. 



' Page 269 (/ 5). Stanza CIX. 

Osorius says, when Martin Alonzo de Souza was viceroy, some 
brazen tables were brought to him, inscribed with unusual characters, 
which were explained by a learned Jew, and imported that St. Thomas 
had built a church in Miliapore. And by an account sent to Cardinal 
Henrico, by the Bishop of Cochin, in 1562, when the Portuguese 
repaired the ancient chapel of St. Thomas, there was found a stone 
cross with several characters on it, which the best antiquarians could 
not interpret, till at last a Bramin translated it, '* That, in the reign 
of Sagam, Thomas was sent by the Son of God, whose disciple he was, 
to teach the law of heaven in India ; that he built a churcli, and was 
killed by a Bramin at the altar." 

Page 271 (m 5). Stanza CXVIIL 

The versification of the original is here exceedingly fine. Even 
those who are unacquainted with the Portuguese may perceive it. 

" Chorarao~-te Thome, Gange, e o Tndo, 
Chorou-te toda a terra, que pisaste ; 
Mas mais te chorao as almas, que vestindo 
Se hiao" na Santa Fe que Ihe ensinaste ; 
Mas OS anjos do ceo cantando, e rindo, 
Te recebem na gloria. " 

Page 273 {n 5). " the Mecom river. ^' 

It was in the mouth of this river that Cam o ens suffered the unhappy 
shipwreck which rendered him the sport of fortune during the remainder 
of his life. Our Poet mentions himself and the saving of his Lusiads 
with the greatest modesty. 



END OF NOTES, 



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